


The Shadow of Owl Falls

by TsarSaucybottom



Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2018-12-05 00:56:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11566980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsarSaucybottom/pseuds/TsarSaucybottom
Summary: Mae and Bea had adjusted well enough to both surviving a cult of dads and Gregg and Angus leaving for Bright Harbor, but things start to change again as the girls unfurl a dark secret





	1. Moonlight Serenade

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is actually my first fanfic ever, and so I'm kinda nervous about it. It's not super well-written, but I hope you guys enjoy it anyways!  
> For each chapter, I'm going to name it after a song that influenced it. For this one, it's "Moonlight Serenade" by Glen Miller.  
> Also, please bear with me; I'm still trying to get used to the tags, haha.

Life goes on, even in a place like Possum Springs. Mae had moved on from Gregg and Angus moving to Bright Harbor. While she was sad to see them go—and still felt sad remembering they were gone—she was able to get through it better with Bea. The two had grown closer since the boys left, and their “proximity” grew into something much, much closer, until Mae and Bea could call themselves the new queer kids in Possum Springs.

Bea had also made Mae much more responsible and mature, and even helped Mae snag a job at the Taco Buck. Mae, however, still kept to her adventurous ways, and discovered something interesting – so interesting, that she convinced Bea to come with her to it when they were both free from work. On the way there, Mae had filled the time with stories.

***

“…And that’s how I found out I’m deathly allergic to cranberries.” Mae had her eyes glued to the crocodile sitting next to her in the car as she finished up her story, trying to gauge her reaction to it. Bea’s signature cigarette was threatening to fall out as her mouth hung open, and her eyes were raised ever so slightly passed her usual half-lidded lethargic look. Mae couldn’t quite place it outside of awe, and this was enforced when Bea spoke.

“That…was probably one of the most horrifying stories I’ve ever heard in my life,” Bea said, blinking rapidly as—Mae assumed—she took it all in.

  “Thanks, I try my best,” Mae said, her lips curling into a smug smile.

“Jesus, Mae. How the hell did you even get there from ‘What’s your favorite hiking place’?”

“I’m a masterful storyteller. Plus, it was related to that, wasn’t it?” Mae asked, notched ear twitching as she watched Bea drive.

“Hm…True enough, I guess. Still.” Bea took a long puff of her cigarette, blowing the smoke to the side, out the rolled down window. Even though Mae said that she was OK with her smoking around her, she still always appreciated when Bea was considerate enough to blow the smoke away from her. Though if she had to be honest, she kind of liked the smell of it. It made her feel…at home. “You’re paying attention to the road, right, Mayday?”

“…Huh?” Mae blinked as she heard Bea speak again. She got distracted, just watching Bea drive. She found herself getting really distracted sometimes just looking at Bea.

“The road? You know…the thing we’re driving on? Jesus, Mae, don’t tell me we’re lost on some derelict dirt road in the middle of the woods,” Bea groaned, tightening her grip on the steering wheel. They had been driving for at least an hour now, dead-set on going to a place Mae felt like Bea would like. Ever since Gregg and Angus left for Bright Harbor, Bea had been filling in occasionally for Mae’s little adventures around and out of town—when they both didn’t have work, of course.

“No, no, don’t worry, really! This place was much farther than this, I remember,” she reassured her.

“And you said you walked all the way out here?” Bea asked, taking her eyes off the road momentarily to quirk an eyebrow at Mae.

“Uh huh!” Mae said, nodding and smiling. “Well…I guess walked, ran and jumped is more accurate—followed by falling from jumping.”

“Heh.” Bea smiled, turning back to the dark road they were driving on. Seeing Bea smile always made Mae smile too. Making Bea smile or laugh always felt like a small victory for Mae, especially considering how stressful Bea’s life was. Even with her father “missing,” she still had a lot on her plate when it came to running the store and keeping herself afloat in her apartment.

 When Bea had gotten to where Mae wanted, Mae quickly pointed over to the left.“Wait, wait, stop, it’s right here—OW!” Mae was interrupted by Bea slamming hard on the brakes Mae’s head going forward and hitting the dash. She sat up, rubbing her head with a groan. “Eugh…You slammed the brakes so suddenly. I’m surprised the airbags didn’t deploy,” she huffed, looking down at the dash.

“Well, what do you expect? You like, pointed it out at the last moment.” Bea said, giving a small glare to Mae. “Anyways, it looks dark as shit here, so get the flashlights out of the glovebox, Mae.”

“Okay. I’ll get the band-aids out, too – for my head.”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby. You didn’t hit your head that hard,” Bea said. She gently prodded where Mae hit her head just to be sure.

Mae made an over-exaggerated wince when Bea touched her head, making Bea recoil her hand with eyes widened. “You gotta kiss it to make it feel better, Bea,” Mae said. Her sly grin returned as she saw Bea’s cheeks gently flushed. Mae could tell Bea was thinking about it as she looked around thoughtfully, and Bea soon obliged, planting a kiss where the Bruise was. Mae giggled hazily, feeling her cheeks warm up.

Bea snorted and rolled her eyes. “Alright, c’mon, dummy. Get the flashlight so we don’t wander into a ditch or something.”

Mae nodded and reached her hand down to dig through the glove box. She pulled out the flashlight, and flickered it on and off to make sure it was still working. She shone it in Bea’s direction, managing to get her right in the eyes and making her cover them up.

“Watch where you’re shining that stupid thing, Mae,” Bea hissed in annoyance.

Mae offered a quick apology to her before she hopped out of the car. She darted around to the other side, fidgeting with the flashlight clutched in her tiny paws. Bea quirked an eyebrow at her as she stepped out of the car.

“You’re really eager to show me this place, aren’t you?” Bea asked, closing and locking the door behind her.

“Yes! I’ve been waiting all week to show you it! But, y’know…work,” Mae pouted.

“Yep. Work indeed.” Bea looked down the path Mae shone the flashlight down; much of it had been cleared out to make a small trail in between the brush. She narrowed her vision, giving Mae an unsure look. “…Are you sure this place is safe? This is like, major horror movie vibes, Mae.”

“Mhm! I hung around here for a bit, and nothing bad really happened. Plus, town’s not too far away from here.”

Bea squinted her eyes at Mae. “’A bit’.”

“Hey, if you’re worried, I got this handy.” Mae pulled out the extendable baton Gregg sent her—one of her favorite gifts from him that she always hung from her belt loop—and flicked it out to its full length, making Bea jump back a bit.

“Jesus, Mae, where the hell did you get that!? Is it even legal to carry that?” Bea asked, blinking at it.

“You think that’s going to stop me from having it? Or, better yet, from you having it?” She flipped the baton around, offering the grip-side of it to Bea.

“I am not going to get in trouble for carrying an illegal weapon.”

“C’moooon, Beebee. Nobody’s out here that can tell you not to. Plus, you’re the one who wanted to be protected, right?”

Bea looked around before letting out a deep sigh and taking the baton. “Fine. If we get caught by the police somehow, this is all on you,” she warned her, waving the baton in her face.

“I can accept that,” Mae said shrugging. “Now come on! You really gotta see this place, Bea!” Mae beamed, waving for Bea to follow as Mae illuminated their path.

***

Their walk was spent in relative silence, Mae’s focus kept on illuminating the dark trail they walked on. She was actually surprised that Bea hadn’t made any comment on how quiet Mae was being. She slowly rolled her eyes to the side to look at Bea, expecting her to be deep in focus—Bea was like that, after all – always looking a bit thoughtful about things—but instead, she saw something that surprised her.

Bea was smiling. She was amusing herself by flicking the baton out and pushing it back in, over and over. Mae felt a tinge of both satisfaction and amusement as she watched Bea toy around with the baton, and gave her a nudge that seemed to startle her. Bea’s cheeks flushed lightly and she blinked rapidly, looking away from Mae. “It’s pretty cool, huh?” Mae commented.

“It’s…mildly entertaining, I guess,” Bea shrugged. “Mostly doing it ‘cause this trail feels like it’s going on forever.”

Mae laughed internally at Bea’s embarrassment and stubbornness. Sometimes, she could be just as stubborn as Mae was about admitting things like that. “Don’t worry, we’re almost there—I promise.”

True to her word, both girls reached the end of the trail, and out onto something that made Mae’s proud smile return, much to the contrast of Bea’s utter shock. Mae had led Bea into a ghost town, but not one from earlier times. This one looked like a much more modern town, though one that nonetheless was slowly being taken back by nature. It was one about the size of Possum Springs.

“Mae…how the hell did you even find this place!?” Bea asked, looking at Mae.

“I told you; I was wandering around one day and just kinda found it out here! Isn’t it cool?”

“It’s effing creepy is what it is, Mae. Plus, this is probably like private property or something.”

“You’re always so worried about getting in trouble, Bea. It’s fine, I promise; I didn’t see any police hanging around or any fences or anything. This place is just…empty.”

“Great. Well, we saw it. Let’s head back now. It’s supposed to—“ A loud clap of thunder interrupted Bea, followed by the downpour of heavy rain. “—Rain.” Bea quickly covered her head, looking displeased by the change in weather. “Damn it, Mae. It just had to be today.”

“What? You’re a Goth, aren’t you supposed to like the rain?” Mae huffed, throwing her hands up in the air.

“I’m a selective Goth, okay? Look, let’s just go back to the car—“

“No! That’ll take too long. We should wait it out here until it stops,” Mae insisted, grabbing onto Bea’s arm.

“Eugh. God damn it, fine. We’ll huddle it out in one of these buildings, I guess.”

Both girls hustled into the middle of the empty town, checking for any unlocked building that they could squat out in. Mae and Bea both shook and jiggled the handles of the various stores around the town, and Bea groaned in annoyance when none of the doors would budge. “Damn it, they’re all locked,” Bea sighed.

Mae also started to shiver, her fur damp from the rain. She looked up and saw Bea had a concerned expression on her face, and she pat Bea on the chest. “D-Don’t worry, I’ll be f-fine, Bea,” she told her, shaking still as she spoke.

“Like hell you are. You’re going to catch a cold. Alright, we’re getting you inside one of these places, pronto, eff it. Not like people live here, right?” Mae watched in awe as Bea banged the window breaker side of the baton against the glass, trying to get it to shatter or at least crack. Mae found a chair and pushed it towards her with her foot. Mae’s eyes widened when Bea threw the chair through the window, creating a big hole in it—big enough for both of them to squeeze into.

“C-C-C-“ Mae stuttered out, feeling herself get colder and colder.

“What? ‘Cold’?” Bea asked, looking at her. Bea already had one foot inside the store.

“C-Crimes!”

“Oh, shut _up_ and get inside!” Bea groaned, climbing inside the store.

Mae was less graceful and jumped right through the hole. She let out a hiss when her knee grazed against the pointed glass from the broken window, and while she shivered, she also cupped her knee where she was cut.

“Jesus, you’re just prone to danger, aren’t you, Borowski,” Bea teased, though Mae could tell she was being slightly playful with it. “Lucky for you, it looks like we’re in a pharmacy,” Bea said, looking around. While Mae sat on the ground, Bea searched around the store. She returned with a box of band aids and a blanket. “Here. Get warm and put these on your knees,” Bea instructed, sitting down with Mae.

Mae did so, applying a large band aid to her cut and pulling the blanket over herself—and Bea when she huddled closer to her. “Hehe…” Mae smiled, sniffling when her nose started to run. “I’m rubbing off on you. You’re almost a pro-vandal, now.”

“You tell anybody I broke into a store—even an abandoned one—and I’ll end you, Mae,” Bea told her. “God, I…still can’t believe I did that, actually. What the hell’s getting into me,” Bea sighed, pulling out a new cigarette to smoke. It always amazed Mae how she could keep them dry like that.

“Well, I m-mean…I’m getting into you sometimes,” Mae responded, looking at Bea. Bea gave her a slightly annoyed look as her cheeks flushed. A smug smile formed on Mae’s face before she let out a big sneeze and a groan, sniffling up her snot.

“Guess it wouldn’t have mattered if you got back to the car; you would have still gotten sick—though probably much more sick than you are now. Guess it was a good call.”

“Mae: 1, Bea:--“

“Don’t start.”

“Sorry.” After a short while of sitting, Mae grabbed the flashlight and flicked it on and off. “Wanna look at graffiti while we wait on the rain?”

“Not like we got much else to do,” Bea said, shrugging as she reached up to take a drag from her cigarette.

Mae lit up parts of the wall with her flashlight, in search of what sort of mark people wandering through here must have left. This place would be an urban explorer’s El Dorado or something, and she figured there would be people who would stake their claim here. Strangely, most of what she saw wasn’t graffiti but…weird symbols—which could technically count as graffiti—but nothing quite like what she’s seen before. “Hey Bea, you know witch kind of stuff, right?”

“I…guess?” Bea asked, shrugging. Seemed she wasn’t paying attention to the symbols, which made Mae pout a bit before sneezing.

After wiping her nose, Mae shone the flashlight on the wall again, tracing over the various symbols painted in red on the walls. “Do you know what those things are called? It’s like…worm, I think? Word?”

“A ward?”

“Yeah, those! Don’t they kind of look like those?” she asked Bea.

“Eh, kinda, I guess? I don’t pay much attention to that kinda shit, so they could mean anything, really.”

“Man, that’s a lame answer. Use your imagination.”

“I’m imagining some nerdy kid who plays a lot of table top games came in here and scribbled those over the wall trying to be scary.”

“Eugh, that’s lame, too!” Mae groaned, gently bumping her head against Bea’s.

Bea let out a small chuckle, and soon rested her head on top of Mae’s. “Whatever it is, I can’t imagine it’s something bad,” Bea said finally.

“Hopefully not…but we’ve seen some pretty weird shit, huh?”

“Yeah…I guess we have. You almost dying, a cult of dads, some eldritch abomination at the bottom of a mine shaft.”

“Good times,” Mae said facetiously.

“Mhm.”

Mae slowly shut her eyes, inching her hand closer until it was on top of Bea’s smaller reptile hand. Her furry paw coiled around it, giving it a gentle squeeze – one that Bea would return.

***

Mae felt herself shaken awake, not even realizing she fell asleep in the first place. She blinked sleepily over at Bea, who was standing up by now, waiting for Mae to do the same. “Hey, c’mon, Mayday; the rain’s stopped, and we can head back to the car now,” she told her.

Mae rubbed the rest of the sleep from her eyes and got up with a stretch and a meow—which both turned into a violent cough. “Eugh…my throat feels like I swallowed hell.” She covered her throat, letting out a small whimper.

“Yeah. Colds tend to be like that.”

“Heh…kinda ironic.”

“How so?” Bea asked, moving towards the window now.

“It’s a cold…but my throat is burning.”

“Suppose so, yeah.”

“Renaming it should be in order—to make it make more sense,” Mae said as she turned the flashlight back on. “’Hey, I got a hot, so I can’t come into work now’.”

“’Stay away from me; I got the common hot’,” Bea added as they both made for the trail again.

Mae laughed loudly at that one, and Bea even smirked after it. “Common Hot is my new pop group. We can be a duo, Beebee,” Mae said, throwing her hands up again as she caught up with Bea. Mae coughed off to the side, to try and prevent Bea from getting sick.

“Sure. We can just use our nicknames for each other as our stage names,” Bea said, her smile still on her face.

“Yesss, it’s perfect. Let’s be legen—“ Mae paused her thought, her exuberance slowly deflating. Thinking about Gregg being so far away still made her sad, even if the move had been some time ago. Mae blinked up at Bea when she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright, Mayday. I miss them too. We still talk to them whenever we can, though.”

“Yeah. It still just…doesn’t feel the same without them here, though,” Mae said, frowning.

“I know. They’re probably happier in Bright Harbor, though. They seem pretty happy whenever we talk to them.”

“Yeah…that’s true enough, I guess.”

“Just try not to think about it, hon.”

“’Hon’?” Mae asked, instantly perking up. “You’ve never called me that before!”

“Oh, boy.”

“Hon…” This put Mae in a better spirit. Bea had gotten good at making her feel better when she felt sad about Gregg and Angus.

“Yeah, yeah,” Bea sighed. “I called you ‘hon’; get over it.”

“Oh, no, I’m never gonna live this down. You gonna call me other nicknames, too?”

“No.”

“Sugar?”

“Stop.”

“Sweetheart?”

“God damn it.”

“Sweetums?”

“What is this, the ‘50s or something? Absolutely not.”

For the rest of the walk back of the car, Mae continued to hassle Bea over other embarrassing, saccharine nicknames. The car ride back to Possum Springs was a rather quiet one, as Mae was distracted with thinking about those symbols she saw inside the pharmacy. She figured it couldn’t hurt to do a little research on it—and the town if she could find anything on it. It’d be just like the old ghost hunting she did with her friends—before the murdercult and all.

Mae was eventually dropped back off at her home—giving Bea a small kiss before she got out—and she headed inside. Her father was in the same familiar place on the couch, enjoying TV.

“Hey, there, kitten,” he greeted her as she walked through the door.

“Hey, dadders,” she said back, sniffling and wiping at her nose.

“Sounds like somebody’s got the sniffles. Did you catch a cold?”

“Yep, but it’s under a new name: a hot, since it makes my throat burn.”

“Oh, are we changing up words, then, in the dictionary? What would a cold be then?”

“Freezing to death!” Mae offered, coughing as she threw her hands up.

“Well, I guess that’s a major case of the cold, then. Care to sit down for some TV, kitten?”

“Nah, not tonight. My throat’s killing me, and I’d rather get some sleep, dad,” she told him, wiping a finger under her nose. She made a noise of disgust at the little trail of snot between her finger and nose.

“That’s understandable, kiddo. Don’t want to get me sick, after all.”

Mae nodded, and they both exchanged their goodnights. Mae headed upstairs and up to her attic room, where she plopped down on her bed. She checked to see if anybody was online. Per usual, it was Bea and Gregg. Since she was kind of missing Gregg earlier, she hit him up first.

**M: Hey Gregg**

**G: Hey dude!!!**

**G: Hows it been??**

**M: You know, kinda ok**

**M: Bea and I went to that place I told you about**

**G: Whoa, the abandoned town place?**

**M: Yeah!! That one**

**M: I got sick there and we saw some weird uh, ward things written all over the walls like graffiti**

**G: Really?**

**M: Yeah**

**M: I was thinking maybe a witch wrote them on the walls or something**

**G: Maybe some witch is marking her territory or something**

**G: Maybe she sells weed there, and that’s her prices**

**M: Witch weed?**

**G: Witch weed**

**M: Haha. Maybe**

**M: Im gonna head to bed, but then I’m gonna do some research on it tomorrow after work**

**G: Sounds good boyo!!**

**G: I need to get going to**

**G: I just slammed my foot through the wall by accident**

**M: Wait, what???**

**G: Later!!!**

Mae blinked in confusion at what happened, and she felt a slight tinge of worry over what might be happening. She figured, though, that whatever happened, Angus would be there to make things better. After thinking that over, she soon messaged up Bea.

**M: Heyyyy Beebee**

**B: Hey, Mayday.**

**B: You feeling OK?**

**M: Kinda. I still feel like my throat’s on fire**

**B: Take some cough syrup. That should help**

**M: That’s the thick pink one you chug, right?**

**B: Yes.**

**B: Wait**

**B: Mae, I swear to God, don’t you chug that, or you’re going to have more than a sore throat to deal with**

**M: Hehe, I’m kidding**

**B: Could have fooled me**

**M: Anyways, are you busy tomorrow, Bea?**

**M: Like after work?**

**B: Mm, not really. I was gonna watch some horror movies. Why?**

**M: I kinda wanted to do some research on that stuff we saw in there.**

**B: You’re still stuck on the ward stuff, Mae?**

**B: It’s probably just some weird graffiti**

**M: Yes!! Weird enough to go the library to research!**

**B: I**

**B: Whatever, might as well**

**M: Yay, awesome!!**

**M: I get off work around the same time you do tomorrow, so it works out perfectly**

**B: Wow**

**M: What?**

**B: It’s still just so weird hearing you talk about working**

**M: Hey!! I’ve had jobs before, Bea!!**

**B: Heh**

**B: Anyways, I’m gonna go to sleep, hon. G’night <3**

**M: Ahhhh!!!**

**M: Goodnight! <3**

Mae smiled in relief. She was glad that Bea was on board with doing this witch research thing. Even if it’s bogus, she was happy to be able to spend time doing silly shit like this with Bea. She looked out the window, towards the direction of the abandoned town, just thinking about what its history could be. Eventually, after looking around outside a bit more, she lied back down, though with…a slight bit of unease.

She could have sworn she saw somebody in a black cloak out there.


	2. Feel the Lightning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae has a weird experience at work, and then heads to the library with Bea to do a small bit of research on the town they discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this took so long to get out; I have a very hard time with time management.  
> The title of the chapter is based off of "Feel the Lightning" by Dan Deacon.

Now that Mae had work again, she had to face one of the biggest challenges in her life once more: alarms. The one she had on her laptop caused her eyes to shoot open, before lazing down into an annoyed squint. She let out a low, tired groan and wiped off the bit of drool she had on her chin, and moved onto the next task of turning the alarm off. She sat up straight, and blinked the sleep from her eyes as she turned to her laptop and closed out of the alarm program she had up.

While she was there, too, she checked for messages from her friends. Ever since Gregg left and since she got a job, the messages had always been different; they weren’t invitations from Bea and Gregg to visit them at work Thinking about it always made her feel…nostalgic and kind sad, but she still appreciated the messages she got nonetheless.

**G: Hey, dude!**

**G: Don’t let the man get u 2 down at work**

**G: Just remember: I’ll be here for you after!**

**G: Sincerely, Gregory**

Bea’s were relatively the same, but just a bit different considering today.

**B: Hey, Mayday**

**B: Have fun at work**

**B: Come see me when you wanna go to the library**

After checking her messages, Mae headed downstairs, and paused at the door when she heard a familiar voice. “Mae, sweetie? Come say hi, why don’t cha?”

Mae turned to the sound of her mother’s voice, a small smile spread across her face as she walked over and perched herself on her familiar seat of the kitchen counter. “Hey, mom.”

“Hello, sweetie. You off to work?” she asked her, looking up from her book.

“Yeah, in a little bit. I've got a little bit of time to talk before my shift starts,” she told her, gently kicking her legs.

“That’s good. I was a bit worried this morning, since your father told me you were feeling a bit sick.”

“Oh, yeah. I had like, a hell throat, but it cleared up pretty quick. The man’s keeping me healthy to keep me down.”

“Yes, ‘The Man’ has a habit of doing that, doesn’t he? I’m glad to see you’re feeling much better, now, hon.”

“I guess so,” she shrugged. “Bea and I are going to go the library today after we’re done working.”

“Oh, how nice! Is it a date?”

“Mom, not everything is date between us. Two girls can go to the library without it being too completely gay. Besides, what kinda nerds go to the library for a date?”

“Well, I know two nerds who did once,” she said, pointing to herself.

“What, really?” Mae asked, blinking in surprise. “Was it fun?”

“No, not at all,” she said, smiling. It made Mae laugh a bit.

“We’re just going to research something we found last night when we were out – some spooky-looking derelict town with some spooky red wards written on the walls.”

“Oh! It sounds like a mystery novel!” she said, perking up. Despite apparently not finding a date at the library fun, Mae still found it interesting how easily her mother got excited by books.

“I guess so, yeah. Mystery of the Dead Town or something. Give me a good name, mommers.”

“Hmm…How about…just The Secret of the Wards?”

“Eh. We could work with it, I guess,” Mae shrugged.

“Of course, of course. It’s still a work in progress, after all.”

“Mhm, mhm. Anyways, I’m gonna head out, mom. Gotta get my capitalism quota out of the day.”

“Sounds good, sweetie. Have fun at work!”

“I’ll try!” With that, Mae hopped off the counters, and finally headed outside to work.

**...**

Mae always surprised herself with how easily she could sit still when she was at the register. She stood there, dressed in her (relatively) clean uniform with her fingers tapping idly on the counter as she waited for the next customer. It was also a much easier job for her to handle; cooking duty proved too much of a hassle to fully master, and she burned herself one too many times to be considered an effective cook.

By now, she considered herself a master of the register. She had the bare necessities figured out, and could ring up an order with little to no slip-ups. Considering how small Possum Springs was, too, she figured that she had memorized every face that came in by now—something she both liked and feared. Who knows what people might know about her after work? The people that came up to the register, though, she couldn’t exactly place a finger on. The one scanning the menu was a wolf, who was backed by his friends: two birds, an alligator, and a raccoon. It was strange to Mae to see people coming from out of town. Despite this, Mae treated them like any other customer.

“Hello, sir! What can I get you?” Mae chirped, attempting as sincere a smile as possible. The wolf, however, took his sweet time with answering, and Mae felt her smile struggling to stay up. Holding a smile for a long period of time was never her strong suit.

“I think we’ll get…No, no…” he said, looking thoughtful.

Mae pursed her lips, looking around a bit awkwardly—especially since she could feel the glare of the wolf’s friends on her, of all people. She tapped her fingers faster on the counter, feeling her anxiety build.

“What do you suggest?” the wolf asked her, breaking her out of her small daze.

“Me? Oh, well, y’know – I’d eat just about anything on the menu,” Mae said, chuckling lightly. The customer didn’t laugh, though – instead looking back up to the menu. Mae pursed her lips again and resumed the light tapping on the counter. Despite it being maybe a couple minutes, it felt like an hour waiting on him and having his friends stare at her weirdly. Some of the customers behind them were getting antsy, too, which didn’t help.

Much to her relief, though, one of the wolf’s friends stepped up, surprisingly smiling at Mae and speaking in a pleasant tone. “Sorry, he’s very indecisive! I think he and I can get a number 2, though, and those three will have numbers, 1, 4, and 7, respectively—all medium,” he told Mae.

The wolf grumbled something to himself, but Mae let out a small breath of relief before ringing up their orders and dolling out their totals. “We’ll have your order out in just a minute!” she told them, grinning widely. They all nodded before finding a table to sit at. When she was sure they were gone, Mae let out another sigh of relief. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Half-way through her shift, she could leave to do her favorite part of the day: lunch break. She got herself a two taco plate and a large order of fries, smiling and humming to herself as she sat down to enjoy her lunch, practically drooling over the tacos.

Midway through her tacos, she felt…unease—something that usually didn’t happen during taco time. She felt like a pair of eyes were on her while she ate. She looked around the restaurant, soon seeing that there were more than one pair of eyes on her. It was those guys from earlier – the ones that took forever to place their orders. They were still here, even though they were finished with their food.

They seemed to be staring pretty intently at her, making her grind against her lower lip. She tried to ignore it and go back to her tacos. Much of it fell out the back while she was looking back at them, so she scooped it up with her finger and put it back into her mouth. They looked…somewhat disgusted by this, and stopped looking at her thankfully. Now, she was able to finish her tacos in peace.

After her lunch, Mae returned to her work. She looked over and saw that they were now staring at somebody else there, probably making her feel as awkward as they made Mae feel. Maybe it wasn’t just her, then; maybe they just like staring at people in a very creepy manner. She didn’t appreciate it, though. She told her manager about them loitering, and they were promptly told to leave—which they did. Mae tried to ignore that that happened by focusing on the rest of her shift.

**...**

After changing out of her work shirt and hat in the back of an alley, Mae headed for Bea’s work. She seemed to have good timing, considering Bea was just closing up the shop. Mae ran over to her, nearly causing Bea to bump into her when she turned around. It also gave Bea a good startle.

“Jesus, Mae, don’t do that,” she huffed, clutching her hand to her chest.

“What can I say, I like to keep you on your toes, Beebee,” Mae said, smiling.

“Just be glad I’m not like, one of those people that hit shit on instinct when they get scared,” Bea told her, taking another cigarette out now that she was free from her workplace. She took a small drag of it before she spoke to Mae again. “How was work?”

“Guh. Don’t even ask,” Mae sighed, face sinking a bit. “I don’t know how you can survive it.”

“A crippling fear of not having a place to sleep or having something to eat. Also, cigarettes,” she answered.

“I got one of those. Never really tried cigarettes.”

“Aren’t you allergic or something?” Bea asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Wouldn’t stop me though.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think it would. It’s still not very smart,” she told her, waving her cigarette in front of her.

“Well, you’re lactose intolerant, and you still have dairy.”

“That’s…different.”

“I guess so, mostly since you’re not the one suffering usually.”

“…What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, just…I’ve had to step out a few times after we had ice cream and decided to cuddle. Had to keep the window open for a while, too.”

Bea’s cheeks turned a dark red, and she looked rather flustered by Mae’s comment. “Alright. We’re done talking about this.”

Mae giggled at this and Bea rolled her eyes at her. “Oh! Actually, something weird happened, but…we can talk about while we walk.”

“Hm. Alright, if you say so, Mayday.”

**...**

“So they were just…staring at you?” Bea asked as the duo made their way to the library.

“Yeah! They were like, giving me super weird looks, especially when I was on my lunch break.”

“Hm. I probably wouldn’t blame them”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mae asked, turning around to look at Bea while they walked.

“No offense, Mae, but you’re like…really bad at eating tacos.”

“What? How!? You can’t be bad at eating tacos. It’s like, impossible!” Mae said, throwing her arms up.

“Trust me, you somehow make it work. Even your mom thinks so. You remember that one time I came over for tacos at your place?”

“ _That’s_ why she was making that face? I thought it was because tacos made you gassy,” Mae said, looking down thoughtfully.

Bea, on the other hand, went red again and squeezed her fists. “Mae, I swear to God, if you keep bringing shit like that up, I’m going to kick your ass into next Tuesday.”

“What? It’s true!” she said. “But anyways, uh…I dunno. It was still weird how they were looking at me.”

“Were they looking at other people weird, too?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they were looking at this one lady weird.”

“Then they’re probably just a bunch of creeps. We always seem to have shitty people roll into town. This place is still a mess,” Bea sighed.

“At least we got a good library.”

“Yeah, we do,” Bea said, looking up at the library.

Both girls headed inside. The library was the same as it was the last time Mae and Bea were here to investigate ghosts. Mae felt it was almost coincidental that they were here for the same thing. Everything still felt familiar to them, especially when they walked through the Charity Bearity section—one that still gave Mae shivers.

Eventually, they reached the third floor. “There it is. The fish thing,” Mae said. “That’s what it was, I’m pretty sure.”

“Pretty close. It’s the microfiche,” Bea told her, taking the lead again.

“Right. So, you gonna steer us this time, captain?”

“Don’t have much of a choice. I remember you trying to mess with it last time,” Bea said, taking position at the microfiche. “So, what are you trying to look for here, Mae?”

“Anything that’s like, talking about those weird symbols we saw on the walls there. So I guess maybe just, look for weird symbols?”

“That might…be a bit broad, but we’ll see.”

“Uhh—oh! Look for that weird town that we went to. It’s like, one of the closest places to here, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find something on it. I think. Unless that place was really that much of a desolate shithole,” Mae said, shrugging.

“Will do.”

While Bea searched through the microfiche, Mae figured she could at least take a little sit down while she waited. She pulled up a seat and started to sit down, when Bea spoke up again. “Okay, I found something.”

“Really? That was fast. What is it?” Mae asked, leaning over Bea. “Is it about those weird symbols? Is it about witch weed?”

“Witch weed? What the hell are you…No, it’s about the town,” she said, moving over so Mae could see.

Mae looked at it, rolling her eyes across the screen as she read a newspaper clipping from it. “’Owl Falls, hit by a another wave of union strikes. Due to increase protest over workers’ rights in Owl Falls, the town on the outskirts of Possum Springs, many businesses blah, blah, blah, blah,’” Mae said, pulling away with a huff and a fold of her arms. “Man. That was it? That was nothing like I was expecting.”

“What were you expecting? The whole town was invaded by weird swamp people?” Bea asked, taking the seat Mae pulled up.

“I mean, that would be cool as shit, but I figured there’d be at least something a little bit more.”

“You work with what you can get,” Bea said, shrugging at her. “At least you got a name for the town. Now, you can do a bit of research like you should have done in the first place.”

“I mean, I guess.”

“I’m…pretty sure you could have just looked at this place on a map online, too, instead of having to come all the way out to the library for it.”

Mae blew an exasperated raspberry, and Bea rolled her eyes in response before standing up. “We ready to go, then?” Bea asked her.

“Yeah. I guess so. Hmm. Maybe Selmers is doing her poetry night thing with the other nerds that come here.”

Mae and Bea both headed back downstairs to the first floor of the library. As Mae predicted, the poetry club was here, though…Selmers wasn’t here. Mae furrowed her brows at this, and approached Miss Quelcy to ask about it. “Hey, isn’t Selmers supposed to be at this goofy poetry thing?”

Miss Quelcy shot Mae a glare, but still answered her nonetheless. “She didn’t show up for it today, so we decided to go on without her for tonight.”

Mae only furrowed her brows again at this, letting out a thoughtful ‘hmm’ as Bea and she walked out the library.

“That’s really weird, Bea; Selmers usually never misses her poetry night,” Mae told Bea.

“Maybe she’s just sick or something and couldn’t answer them in time for the poetry thing,” Bea responded.

“Maybe…Can we stop by her place to be sure?”

“Yeah. We can do that.”

**...**

Mae knocked on the door to Selmers’ place. After a short while, her parents came to the door, smiling at Mae. “Hello, Mae, Bea. Is there something you needed?” her father asked.

“Hi, Mr. Forrester. Is Selmers sick or something? She didn’t show up at her poetry thing,” Mae asked.

“Hmm, no. She said she had to take care of something tonight, and that she’d be back a little bit later.”

“See, Mae? She’s probably fine.”

“I dunno…”

“Look, why don’t we have her come over to either yours or Bea’s place to ease your mind a bit?” Mrs. Forrester offered.

“Yeah…I guess that could work. Thank you, guys.”

They gave her a little nod before closing the door.

“Well, another mystery solved,” Bea said, “so what now?”

“We…head home, I guess.” Mae put her hands in her pockets, looking down at the ground. “Sorry for like, all this weird shit. I guess I’m still kinda anxious after, y’know…”

“It’s fine, I understand. Still, it’s been, what, like a year now since that happened?” Bea asked. “I’m sure we’re in the clear, Mayday.” Bea placed a comforting and reassuring hand on Mae’s shoulder. Mae reached her hand up to rub against Bea’s as they stood there for a moment.

“I’ll catch you tomorrow, Mae. We both got work tomorrow, and we shouldn’t stay up too late worrying about weird shit that got buried a while ago.”

“I guess so…Hey, can we do something tomorrow? Y’know, besides the library?”

“What, like a date night?”

“Maybe. Maybe just hanging out at your place for a bit. That’s OK, right?” Mae asked her.

Bea seemed to be thinking about it for a moment while Mae bounced idly on her heels. Eventually, Bea gave her her answer. “Yeah. That’s fine, I think. We can hang out and watch some bad horror movies on the couch. Couch still feels pretty empty, after all,” Bea said with a sigh, looking away.

Mae heard the small hint of dejection in Bea’s voice, and tried to ease her mind a bit by giving her a tight hug, closing her eyes. She could feel Bea return the hug, too. “I’m still really sorry, Bea.”

“It’s…fine. It had to happen.”

“…I’ll see you tomorrow, Bea.”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow, Mae.”

**...**

Mae came through the front door, letting out a small sigh. Her father caught ear of it, and turned to smile at Mae.

“Hey, kitten. Busy day today?”

“Yeah, kinda. Work was weird, then the library visit was…kinda weird, too.”

“Weird days tend to happen sometimes. Day was a bit weird for me, too. Didn’t get much sleep, so I was a bit out of it at work today. Thought I cut my finger off. Turns out it was just a bit of meat. Didn’t stop me from screaming, though.”

This got a small laugh out of Mae. “Why weren’t you sleeping?”

“Not too sure. Just had some weird nightmares that kept me up for a bit longer.” He gave a small shrug, patting the couch cushion next to him. “Want to watch a bit of TV with me, kitten?”

“Sure. I feel like I need to unwind a bit.” Mae hopped on the couch next to her father, turning her attention as the familiar logo and theme song came on for _Garbo & Malloy_.

“Got a good show for tonight, don’t we, Garbo?”

“We sure do, Malloy!”

“Say, Garbo – did you hear about that new raise in the price of sugar?”

“I sure did, Malloy! Must be a real burden on those who buy lots of sugar.”

“No kidding! Makes me glad I steal all my sugar from your place!”

The audience of the show laughed and let out a round of applause.

“He sure does, folks! Hey, Malloy. You know what I always think when I catch you hefting away all my sugar?”

“What’s that, Garbo?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…W—“

“That’s a whoppah!”

Both the audience as well as Garbo & Malloy let out a laugh at Garbo’s catchphrase.

“Coming up next: Garbo and I fall into a ravine!”

The TV switched off, and Mae headed back up to her room to retire for the night.

She sat at her computer, and brought up her messenger. Bea wasn’t online, but that was fine since she was going to be seeing her tomorrow night anyways. So, she started up a conversation with Gregg.

**M: Hey, duders**

**G: Hey, Mae!**

**G: How was your romantic date at the library with Bea?**

**M: Oh, you know**

**M: Could have been better.**

**M: We didn’t make out against nearly as many bookshelves as we wanted**

**G: A true tragedy!**

**M: We’re still crying over it**

**M: For real though, we didn’t get much out of it, though, just the name of the town I was telling you about**

**M: Maybe you’ve heard of it?**

**G: Whats it called?**

**M: Owl Falls**

**G: Oh, I’ve heard of it!**

**M: You have!?**

**G: Yeah!**

**G: Only heard about it, tho. Let me ask Angus real quick to see if he knows about it**

**G: Ok, Angus said “hrmmmfrbr” and then put his hand against my face**

**M: Informative**

**G: Yep**

**G: Feel like I know everything now**

**G: Ill ask him tomorrow and report to you later!**

**M: Thanks, Gregg**

**G: By the way**

**G: How’s the**

**G: PROJECT doing????**

**M: Oh man, I haven’t had time to work on it all that much**

**M: I got the knife on it and the half-pound weight in, but I still need to get the barbwire, screws, and razor blades from Bea**

**G: Damn…**

**G: Progress tho!!!**

**M: I can’t wait to use it once its done, though**

**M: Its gonna be cool as shit**

**G: Hell yeah, dude!!!**

**G: Anyways, gonna head 2 bed**

**G: Hmu tomorrow!**

**M: Will do**

**M: Goodnite!**

Mae closed her laptop after that and let out a small stretch, ready to head to bed.

**...**

In the middle of the night, a loud crash brought Mae out of her slumber. It sounded like trash cans being knocked around a bit. Her first thought was that it was just that one guy’s dog getting lose again, but she still felt the need to investigate.

She sat up and looked out of her window, and she felt a surge of terror course through her again. That one lady—the one she saw at the restaurant getting stared at by those weird dudes—she was struggling to break free from a group of people all dressed in black. Her mouth was covered so that she couldn’t scream, and two people held her arms and her down until one walked forward and knocked her out with a rag of chloroform.

Mae didn’t keep herself frozen for long, and soon reached for her bat before charging down the stairs and out the door. The group of people all looked over at Mae, but before she could charge and bash all their heads in, she felt something strike her own, something metallic—like an aluminum baseball bat. The brief twang of it was all she heard before she was out cold on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, I hope I did OK with some of the side characters--especially Garbo & Malloy. That part killed me, haha. Anyways, let me know what you guys think!


	3. Praise Your Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae has a cryptic nightmare, and then goes back to the mines and back to Owl Falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I had a bit of trouble with writing this one, so sorry if my writing seems off at all with this. The song for this chapter is "Praise Your Name" by Angels of Light.

By now, Mae had gotten used to seeing the Deep Hollow Hollerers in her dreams. Mae was pretty sure that recurring dreams meant…something, but she didn’t think that the spectral band that now dominated many of her dreams had any specific meaning.

She definitely didn’t mind their company, though. They made her dreams…soothing, and they helped put her mind at ease, especially considering some of the frantic days she’s had.  Considering they were usually so spread out apart, she would generally sit in some sort of middle ground to truly indulge in all their sounds. In this dream, however, they were right next to each other, and made things much easier for her as she listened to their polka-like music play. She even slowly closed her eyes as she got into the tune of it, gently swaying.

 However, when they suddenly stopped playing, that’s when Mae felt a sudden unease. She cracked open one eye, followed soon by another one. All four members of the band were looking at Mae with a half-lidded expression, their eyes a pinkish-red glow just like hers. With their eyes open like that, Mae saw the look of lethargy and almost lifelessness they had in their faces, and it furthered her anxiety as she took a step back, bumping into the rail behind her. Their eyes slowly rolled to the right, gradually widening as they saw something that caused them terror.

Like a stage light switching between lights, the familiar oranges, blues, purples, and pinks all changed to a sickly green and black, the musicians—and Mae—tuning into mere black silhouettes. Not even the moon nor the stars were visible. There was just black, and that green. Mae never felt this sort of thing in her dreams. A new kind of terror – one of pure silence as she waited for something. Then, she heard it.

A low, bellowing groan, coming from down the cobblestone street she stood on. Those streets were soon draped by a thick, green fog. Mae’s eyes widened and she took several steps back as she saw tentacles slither out of the fog and along the ground like snakes towards her. As they drew closer to her, she swore that she could hear them murmuring—though what, she couldn’t really say.

Out of an odd mixture of fear and courage, she finally felt like she could speak up. “I—I don’t understand what you’re trying to say, but you better leave me alone! I’ve already dealt with shit like you before, and I’m not in the mood for it right now!” The tentacles didn’t answer her—though she half-expected that—and instead continued to slither through, even coiling around the stands the Deep Hollow Hollerers were perched on. All of them stood up, trying to avoid the tentacles snaking their way up in vain, until they finally coiled around the musicians. Mae wasn’t sure what she could do, but she still felt worry and shame over not being able to help them.

She soon felt the ground cracking, and could see those same symbols she saw in the pharmacy a couple days ago appear beneath her feet. The ground eventually gave through, and Mae fell through.

***

Mae’s eyes shot open and she took in a deep gasp, looking around. It was just her room. She knew that was just a dream, but…Well, that didn’t mean that she was used to it. She slowly sat up, and when she did, she let out a sharp hiss. She put both her hands to her head and let out a groan, remembering what happened last night.

“Eugh, God…last time I get hit in the head by a baseball bat.” She let out another gasp, and quickly tried to scramble out of her bed. “Shit, that lady—oof, shit!” Mae wound up on the floor, tangled up in her blanket that she kicked off herself. She grabbed her shoes, not even bothering to put them on as she rushed down the stairs.

She saw her mom sitting in her usual place in the kitchen, humming to herself as she skimmed through her book. Mae wasn’t sure why, but…she felt a small bit of relief seeing her mom there, safe and sound. After she got knocked out cold, she wasn’t sure what could have happened to her family here. “Mom!” she said, rushing over to her mom—and slipping on the floor.

“Mae, careful, sweetie! I just waxed the floor a bit ago,” her mother said, rearing herself up to check on Mae.

“Eugh…I can feel that.” She got back up to her feet, cracking her back. “Thank God, nothing happened to you.”

“Is this about last night, hon? Your father found you lying out on the grass with your baseball bat this morning. He brought you back up to your room before he headed out again,” she told her. That explained why she woke up in her bed. “Did something happen last night, Mae?”

Before she decided to tell her mother what happened, Mae remembered something important from last night. “Mom…Did Selmers ever come over last night?” she asked, bracing herself for the worst.

“No, not that I remember. Was she supposed to?” her mother asked. Her face turned to one of concern too. “Mae, sweetie, what’s going on?”

“Somebody hit me in the head with a baseball bat last night, and there were a bunch of people kidnapping somebody in the middle of the night.”

Her mother’s eyes widened hearing this and she, surprisingly, set her book down to come inspect Mae. “Mae, are you alright!? Oh, my poor sweetheart.” Mae tried to wiggle free from her mother’s strong grasp, trying to get back to the business at hand.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m OK, I think. Still, though, like…somebody got kidnapped last night!” Mae was contemplating getting the police to handle this, but…she wasn’t sure what to tell them. Nobody else probably saw those people out late last night, and even if they did, Mae was pretty sure their faces were covered up. Still, though…She felt like she might have a few hunches on what’s going on.

“Oh…That’s just awful. Let’s hope nothing bad happened to Selmers, either,” her mother said.

“I…I think I need to go, mom.”

“Okay, sweetie. Please be safe out there, alright? I can’t imagine something happening in broad daylight, but…still. Do you still have that baton?”

“You…knew about that baton?”

“It’s…kind of hard not to notice it, sweetie,” her mother chuckled, though Mae could still hear a slight bit of nervousness in her voice. It probably wouldn’t be good for her to tell her mother that she actually left it with Bea, though, but…still, like she said, something probably wouldn’t happen in broad daylight.

“Haha, I guess so,” she said, smiling sheepishly. “I’m heading out now, mom.”

“Alright, Mae. Just please be careful, alright?”

“I will,” Mae said, nodding. Soon, she was back out the door. She finally put her boots on, and rushed down the street towards the Ol’ Pickaxe.

***

Mae pushed open the door, startling her crocodile girlfriend at the front desk and making her drop her cigarette into the ash tray.

“Jesus, Mae, what the hell? You could have broken the glass on the door. Don’t you have work today, too?”

“It’s! My day off!” Mae practically stomped in, placing her hands on the front desk. Bea blinked at her before looking around awkwardly. “Bea, something weird is going on around here.”

“Something weird’s always going on around here, Mae,” Bea said dismissively, trying to get back to work. Mae grabbed her hands to keep her attention on her, causing Bea to blush a bit. “Did Selmers come to your place last night?”

“I…no? I thought she would have come to yours, first; she lives much closer to you, after all.”

“She didn’t come over to my place last night, either,” she told her, scanning Bea for a change of expression.

It did get Bea’s eyes to widen a bit, but she still tried to make an excuse for it. “She probably could have forgotten. You’ve forgotten a lot of shit like that, too, Mae.”

“Bea, this is different,” Mae said, getting slightly more frustrated. “I saw somebody get _abducted_ last night – right out in the street.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. Abducted?”

“Yes!” Mae said, tightening her grip on Bea’s tiny hands. “They all grabbed her and then knocked her out with chloroform. Then when I went out to try and stop them, one of them hit me in the head with a baseball bat.”

Bea’s eyes widened hearing this, and she looked concerned by this. “Wait, somebody hit you with a baseball bat? Are you OK, Mae?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I mean, my head’s kind of sore, but I’ll live…with a couple painkillers, I think.”

Mae was surprised when Bea just pulled a bottle out from behind the counter and offered them to her—though she probably should have expected it, considering how stressful her work was. Mae popped one into her mouth, having trouble swallowing without water. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Anyways, are you…sure that hit to the head didn’t do something?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know, maybe you just…thought you saw something you really didn’t.”

Mae furrowed her brows, getting slightly frustrated at how Bea was making up excuses. “Bea, come on.”

“What?”

“Somebody just hit me in the head for no reason in the middle of my own yard?”

Bea’s mouth shifted to the side, looking like she was pondering how to reply to it. Instead, she took the cigarette she dropped and just took a drag from it.

“Bea, we gotta do something about this.”

“’We’? Shouldn’t we get the police to handle this sort of thing?”

“And tell them what? That a bunch of people in black just show up out of nowhere and steal somebody in the middle of the night?”

“That…I guess that’s kind of fair.”

“Plus, you know how Aunt Molly was; she just like, acted really ominous and spooky about shit and dismissed everything I said. The rest of the police are probably like that, too!”

“Okay, now you’re just being paranoid, Mae,” Bea huffed, resting her cheek on her fist. “What do you even think we should do?”

“I…don’t know.” Mae looked down at her feet, trying to think of an answer. “I’m gonna go check the mines.” This was the first place on Mae’s priority list. If any weird kidnappings happened, she wanted to make sure it wasn’t coming from some place close to home, first.

“The mines? Mae, Germ blasted the mines with freakin’ dynamite. What the hell do you think you’re gonna find there?”

“I just…want to be sure, okay?”

Bea looked away before sighing. “Okay. Yeah. I guess if it eases your mind, you should. Might ease my mind a little bit, too,” she said, shrugging.

Mae felt less tense now that Bea gave her some benefit of the doubt. It made her let out a small sigh and smile up at Bea. “Thanks, Beebee.”

“Anytime, Mayday. Oh, by the way, I forgot to give you this back.” She reached under the counter and pulled the riot baton out, handing it back to Mae.

“Ass Beater, Jr.!” she said, looking jubilated as she took it again. “I actually just remembered this morning that I forgot it. Has she served you well?”

“Eh. Couldn’t use it to threaten angry patrons as much as I wanted to, but she’s still made me feel safe,” she said, smiling a bit down at Mae.

Mae already felt much more at ease just being able to talk with Bea about other things. Maybe she just needed to calm down a bit from the big scare from last night—though it was still in her mind. “That’s good. Oh, before I forget, too – I kinda needed to buy some stuff here,” Mae said.

Bea slowly quirked an eyebrow at her. “Oh?”

“I need a box of screws.”

“Okay, what size?”

“Uhh…long size?”

“That…that really doesn’t help, Mae. We got a chart, y’know,” she told her, pointing to said chart.

Mae studied the chart for a moment before picking out what she thought was the size she was looking for. Bea went into the back to get the right size of screw, and set a box down on the counter for her. “Anything else?”

“Yep! A box of razor blades.” Mae smiled at Bea, who gave her a suspicious glare.

“…Why, exactly?”

“It’s for a project,” Mae answered, bouncing on her heels a bit.

“O…kay.” She retrieved a box of replacement razor blades for Mae. “Anything else else?”

“Yep, one last thing: barbed wire.”

“…Mae.”

“Yeah?”

“…You know what. Never mind. I probably shouldn’t even ask. What kind of barbed wire?”

“There’s different kinds of barbed wire!?” Mae asked, mouth agape in shock.

“Yep. Life-changing I know. Hold on. God, this feels weird – you just feel like some random-ass customer.”

“#1 customer, more like.”

“Eh,” Bea said, shrugging as she went in the back. Mae saw the small smile on her face as she said this.

Bea came back out with a few pieces of barbed wire, explaining the difference to her. Once Mae picked out the one she wanted—she still didn’t really know the difference that well—Bea brought a roll of it out, setting it down in front of her.

“Holy—that’s a lot of barbed wire,” Mae said, blinking at it.

“Yep. Almost 1400 feet. ‘S the only one we really got,” Bea shrugged.

“Wow…That’s a lot more barbed wire than I was needing, but I’m sure I could need it for later. Might need to set up a perimeter around my house sometime or something.”

“I’m sure you’ll find something. That all for you, Mayday?”

Mae nodded her head, and Bea rang her up quickly after. “That’s 81.69, Mae.”

“Nice,” Mae said, smug smile on her face from the total cents. Bea rolled her eyes. “Can I get a discount for being your girlfriend?”

Bea put her hands on the counter and leaned closer to Mae. “No.”

***

Mae walked down the street, carrying her purchases with her—a couple new band aids on her fingers too after grabbing the barbed wire wrong, too. Her thoughts were stuck on both her project, as well as having to go back to…that place again. It’s been almost a year since everything happened at the mines. Almost a year since they buried it all under a mound of rubble from dynamite. Mae was just hoping it stayed like that. She guess she would find out soon enough. Her deep thought was interrupted when she heard a voice squeak behind her.

“Hey, Mae!”

Mae dropped her things on the ground, letting out a small yelp. She didn’t usually get scared this easily, but she got caught deep in thought. She turned around to see the owner of the voice: a shorter mouse teen, looking at the supplies dropped on the ground with a frown spread across her face. “Oh jeez. I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m sorry. I just wanted to say hi, since we haven’t chatted in a while, I’m sorry,” she stammered out, starting to hyperventilate before Mae placed her hands on her shoulders.

“Hey, hey, it’s OK! You just got me when I was like, in deep thinking mode.”

“You dropped barbed wire on your foot, though!”

“Okay, that part’s not OK – help me get it out.”

Mae and Lori spent a moment getting the barbed wire bundle off of Mae’s foot. Mae cradled her foot, swearing she felt it puncture through her shoe, despite Lori saying it didn’t. They both just sat on the ground for a moment, sitting in silence for a moment.

“Sorry again about making you drop barbed wire on your foot.”

“It’s fine.”

“What’re you gonna use it all for, anyways?”

“It’s part of a project, actually. When I’m done with it, I think you’ll like it,” Mae said, smiling. Lori dug through her bag, looking at the razor blades and screws she bought, though Mae didn’t stop her. Mae actually had a thought on something now that she sat there. “Hey…Do you think you could use some barbed wire for your movies?”

“Me?” She looked over at Mae, sitting back down for a second. “Maybe. I’m not sure if I need a bunch of barbed wire, though.”

Both girls got up and headed towards Mae’s home. By now, Lori had been over to her house a couple times, so it wasn’t weird for her to come with. She helped her and Bea make the shed in Mae’s backyard last summer, even. Mae sometimes even joked that she was Lori’s new mom, and that she was an official rodent mom.

Mae walked through the front door, Lori behind her. By now, her mom was already at work, so the table was clear enough for her to set her supplies on the table—Lori setting the barbed wire on the table.

“So what’re you doing today?” Lori asked.

“I need to uh…check on something,” she told her.

“Is it the mines you guys blew up with dynamite?” Lori asked.

“…Yeah.”

“Can I come?”

Mae thought about it for a moment as she walked back towards the door. If it was the same cult from before, she…thought Lori would at least be somewhat safe? Lori doesn’t seem like somebody a bunch of old dads would go after. Though if she got involved, it could still be dangerous. It was a tough call for Mae, but she decided, what the hell.

“Okay. But ground rules first…Wait here real quick.” Mae rushed upstairs, grabbing one of the multitudes of baseball bats she had—she had a habit of collecting them now—and ran back downstairs. “You stick close to me, and if anything gets too close to you, hit it with this,” she said, handing the baseball bat to Lori. “If you get scared or anything, then just run.”

“Is it really that bad over there?” Lori asked, taking the bat and looking down at it. She looked kind of nervous, and a bit hesitant about it.

“Well…I’m kinda hoping not, and just hoping that those guys are nothing but a giant pile of cultist pancakes, but, y’know, it’s just in case.”

“What’s even going on?” Lori asked.

“I saw somebody get abducted last night, and they hit me in the head with a baseball bat.”

“Oh my god! Are you OK!?” she asked, huffing nervously through her teeth.

“Hey, it’s OK, yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. Painkillers can work miracles,” Mae said, smiling at her. “It takes more than just one hit in the head with a baseball bat to bring me down anyways.”

“Okay…”

“Since we’re buddying up, I’m gonna trust you watching my back, too. Can you do this?”

“I…I can do this.”

“Say it again.”

“I can do this.”

“Louder!”

“I can do this!!” Lori was practically shouting it now, but she looked determined.

“You can do this!!!”

“I can do this!!!”

“AAAAAAAGH!!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!”

***

Mae looked over at Lori as they both walked through the woods, making for the mine. While they walked, Lori had the bat tucked under her arm and was looking down at her little notebook of horrors. “What’cha looking at?” Mae asked her.

“Just looking at my designs for some homemade guts.”

“Sounds awesome,” Mae said, trying to look over too.

“I think it is. I’m trying to think of a way to give it like, the right amount of squish,” Lori told her, making a wet noise with her mouth.

“Haha, gross. Makes sense, though. Is your next movie gonna be a gory one?” she asked.

“I think so. I think it’s good to experiment with types of horror. Most of them are pretty good in their own ways.”

“Even jumpscares?”

“Hm. Maybe. I’ll still try them. They’re kinda easy, though,” she said.

Eventually, both girls reached the outskirts of the mine. Mae cautioned Lori to get her bat ready while Mae drew her riot baton, giving it a good flick as they neared it. As they drew nearer, Mae saw…that everything was exactly the same.

“Whoa…is this the place?” Lori asked, lowering the bat now.

“Yeah. This is the place,” Mae said, letting out a sigh. She pointed up to the well she and her friends crawled out of, still sealed away with a mass of rubble. Lori gave it a good tap with the bat—just to be sure. It…still felt weird for her to be here. She still thought about the headaches here, getting asked to join a cult…Casey. She felt…some sort of relief that this place was still sealed up.

“Huh. Does this mean everything’s OK?” Lori asked, looking up at Mae.

“Not really, but…Well, it’s just kind of relieving.”

“Ah. Okay. I don’t really understand that well, but as long as it’s OK.”

“Yeah.” Mae rested on the well, looking down on it.

“Hey, can I…borrow this bat for a bit? I wanna test some stuff with it.”

“Huh? Yeah, that’s OK. Just make sure to bring it back. Even if it’s covered in pseudo-guts. That’ll make it cooler,” Mae said, grinning at Lori. Lori gave her a grin back.

***

Mae sighed to herself as she walked the trail to Owl Falls. Even though she was relieved that the mine in her own town was gone, she knew that something must have been up with this town. It was part of why she didn’t want Lori coming along; she thought that something might happen here, and she didn’t want anything to happen to her all the way out here. Besides, she wasn’t sure how well she would handle the walk here.

It was sunset by the time she reached Owl Falls again. Everything seemed fairly normal since the last time she was here, though that’s probably because she didn’t explore it as much. She ventured further into town, seeing that much of it was…well, just like the rest: a big, vacant town. As she walked, though, she saw a large fence, a factory within it.

Mae crawled up and over the fence—barely a match for her—and ventured in further. She clicked on her flashlight, shining it inside of the factory. Inside, leaning against a table, was a rifle and a few spent casings on the table. Behind it, though, she saw more of those symbols from the pharmacy, colored in that same dark red color.

She furrowed her brows as she stared at the symbol again, trying to study it well. Just in case, she etched its image into a page of her notebook. She wished she did that for the other symbols, but at least she had one of them. She set her notebook away and started walking again.

However, she didn’t watch her footing, and soon found herself slipping on the loose ground, right into a ravine. She landed with a hard thud into the stream of water. Her arms got scraped up, and she could feel blood under her shirt, but she was thankful it wasn’t too steep of a fall. She looked around, seeing that the ravine had very…clear-cut walls. She scanned the area further, and saw that it was an abandoned quarry—though not much of a big one. Much of nature reclaimed it, but the outlines of the cuts could still be seen.

When Mae turned around, she saw there was a hole – one heavily covered with vegetation. She shone her flashlight inside, and it looked like…a tunnel. She debated with herself for a bit on if she should go inside it or not, but she eventually decided to go for it.

Whenever she walked through, she kept her flashlight shining in front of her. She only looked around when she stopped, not wanting to fall into another hole or something. The further she went in, the more she saw light. She eventually found lights strung up all along the wall, illuminating the rest of the path. She also saw that a couple branched off into separate paths, and one had a door on it. Mae was surprised to find it unlocked.

The room inside of it was practically a dungeon. There were chains and cuffs attached to the wall, and above them were more of those symbols. Mae wasn’t completely positive on it, but…she felt like they were numbers. Something that made her uneasy was that there was dried up blood by one of the cuffs. Despite this, she made sure to get the symbols down in her notebook—very quickly.

Just as soon as she finished, she froze up in fear again. She heard a splash down the hall, followed by the sound of footsteps. Her hair stood on end as she thought over what to do.

Against her better judgement, she put her notebook away and booked it out of there. Some of the walls of the quarry jutted out and were solid enough for her to step back out of the ravine and get the hell out of dodge. Much of her trip back home was spent running.

***

Mae sat out on her porch, wheezing heavily and shirt damp with sweat. She looked like she just ran a marathon—and, to her, she practically did.

“Jesus, Mae, what happened to you?” Mae looked up as she heard the familiar voice. Bea stood there with a concerned expression on her face as she looked Mae up and down. She had almost forgotten she was going over to Bea’s for the night.

“I’ll…Tell you when we’re back at your place,” Mae rasped out.

After packing up a few things for the night and saying goodbye to her dad, Mae got in the car with Bea and headed over to her apartment. As soon as they got inside, Mae collapsed down on the couch, taking heavy, strained breaths.

“I’m…going to get you some water. You sound like a dying animal,” Bea said, getting a glass from the cupboard. As soon as she handed the full glass to Mae, she snatched it away and chugged the whole thing down before sighing in relief.

“Ohhhh, man, that feels so much better.”

“You ready to tell me what happened now?” Bea asked, sitting on the couch once Bea made room.

“I…I went to that place again, Bea.”

“The mines?”

“More than that. I…I went to Owl Falls, too.”

“What? Jesus, Mae, you went there and _ran_ all the way back to Possum Springs.”

“Uh…Pretty much, yeah.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t get a heart attack. You should of told me you were going there, too, you dumbass; I could have driven you there,” she said, sighing.

“Sorry…I wasn’t sure if you’d want to back out with me there or not.”

“Well, that’s why you ask first. Don’t be dumb about this shit, Mae.”

Mae looked down, frowning. She actually did feel kind of stupid now for not asking Bea first. “I’m sorry.”

Bea let out a long sigh. “I’ll get us some dinner started,” she said, giving Mae a small kiss to her forehead. She got up and walked back over to the kitchen. Mae’s stomach growled just thinking about it.

***

Once her breathing settled and she got some food in her, Mae was feeling much better. Both of them sat on the couch and watched TV while they had dinner, and Mae found it rather relaxing. She noticed that Bea was…a bit slow eating, looking deep in thought about something—though Mae knew exactly what.

She always got like this whenever they had dinner on the couch, and she knew it reminded Bea of her father, who used to be glued to the couch practically. Even though he was part of the cult, Mae could still see it in Bea’s face that she missed him or had some regret about what they did. The most she could do is put a comforting hand on Bea’s. Bea looked over and let out a small sigh before squeezing Mae’s hand.

After a shower—one where Mae had to explain to Bea why she had bad scrapes on her elbows—both girls headed to bed. In the time since the incident, Mae helped Bea unpack some of her things to try and brighten Bea’s spirits a bit; after all, it probably made things much more homely for Bea.

Mae was the big spoon for tonight as they lied in bed. Bea had her eyes shut, but Mae could tell she was still awake. “Hey, Bea?”

“Yes, Mae?”

“Sorry again for not telling you where I was going.”

“It’s fine.”

“…” Mae frowned as other thoughts washed up in her mind, now that she was apologizing. “I’m…I’m sorry for everything else, too.”

“’Everything else’?”

“Yeah, like how I left you, and then I was just a total dick about things when I came back, and like—“

“Mae, I told you already – all of that’s fine, I forgive you,” Bea said, opening her eyes and rolling her head over slightly. “I’m over it by now, I promise.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.” Bea put her hands on Mae’s, and it sooth her, along with Bea’s reassurance.

“Okay…Thank you.”

“Of course, Mayday.”

Mae looked up at the ceiling for a moment as she thought about asking her next question. “Bea, do you…think we could go back to Owl Falls tomorrow, after work?”

“You really want to go back again, Mae?”

“I’d just…feel safer going there with you again tomorrow. I really need to show you something else there – something in the quarry. Just…trust me on this, okay?”

“…Okay. We can go after we’re done with work tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Bea.” Mae snuggled up against Bea’s neck, finally feeling sleep approach.

“Hey, Bea.”

“Yeah, Mae?”

“…I love you.”

“Love you too, Mayday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so quick question, and sorry if it's a weird one: Do you think I write too much character dialogue, and would you like to see me cut some of it out?


	4. Eliezer's Waltz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae has a frightening dream and a shocking encounter at work, and then she heads into quarry again with Bea by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I just wanted to apologize for how long this update took to get out; I was in a writing slump for a while and didn't feel like doing any fandom writing stuff. I was working on this chapter, just...very, very slowly.  
> Anyways, the title of this chapter is from "Eliezer's Waltz" by the Ventura Klezmer Ban--and is actually the song the band performs in the dream.  
> Hope you guys enjoy this (very late) chapter.

Mae walked the cobblestone streets in front of her. This place she was in this time was so much…different from the other places she had been to in her dream. It had a much more old-timey look to it, though it carried some of the dream features her previous dream cities had: some buildings and telephone lines were misaligned or floating, some parts were tattered with ruin or junk, etc. Despite the familiarities, Mae still felt out of place in this town. For one, it still wasn’t the other town she was used to seeing in her dreams. There was also a sickly green glow that hung in the air instead of the usual colors of her dreams. Considering the events of her last dream, that color was affiliated with nightmares, and something evil creeping in her dreams. It made her uneasy, and kept her from running off in the usual sprint she made in her dreams.

After a while, however, the colors eased into the colors of her previous dreams. She wasn’t sure if it was relief she felt, but as long as she didn’t have to see that green in her dreams, that was fine by her. The further in she went, the more familiar it looked until she pieced it together: it was Owl Falls. The Victorian-style streetlights illuminated as she passed them. They seemed oddly fitting here, given the retro look of the town—however old it even was. However, it was still pretty dark. Despite this, she saw that one of the street lights stood out. It was much more modern-looking, and hung lower than Mae was pretty sure most street lights hang. Underneath it sat a rather large crate. Make furrowed her brows in curiosity, and she ran towards the crate.

As soon as she reached it, something on and around the crate began to materialize. The street light turned brighter, making Mae wince one eye shut and shield her face with her arm. As she looked up, she heard music playing in front of her. She looked back down, and there was a full band, the same blue glow as the Deep Hollow Hollerers, all crowded around the box. Sitting on the crate itself was a fox woman, wearing a red dress to match the big rose tucked into her ear. She had her legs crossed and her arms on the box, and as her musicians played, she sang – though her words were only singing “lie” over and over.

However, it was enough to enrapture Mae. Listening to another band made her feel at ease, considering recent events, as well as her last dream. She actually…worried about the Deep Hollow Hollerers. Even if they’re dream ghosts, she still can’t help but feel anxious that something bad could have happened to them, and that’s why they weren’t here. Nevertheless, Mae listened to this band’s song in its entirety, and Mae was left there blinking—stunned.

“Wow…”

The small smile the fox had on her face disappeared. Her and the rest of the bands’ eyes creaked open to look at Mae, a tired and sad look in their eyes. The fox’s face turned into one that…almost looked like a pleading look. Her finger rose up, pointed in the direction of the quarry.

Mae turned back when she heard faint whispers coming from the direction the fox pointed out – the same she heard in her last dream. Something about them made Mae follow, soon leaving that same band behind as she wandered further into the quarry, the details of everything turning into a black silhouette. Mae looked down at the entrance into the cavern, seeing those same tentacles and that same eerie mist creep out from it. She swallowed hard, thinking about what might be in there.

***

Mae let out a loud snort as she flinched awake, hearing the sound of her laptop’s alarm going off. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, scanning the dark for where she put the damn thing. Hearing the loud groan of the bed’s other occupant filled Mae with a small bit of guilt as she felt Bea shift around to Mae’s side.

“Eughhh, what time is it?” Bea groaned out. Mae finally found her laptop and opened it up to shut off her alarm. It shone some light on Bea’s tired face, making her squint and rub her eyes. Seeing how tired she was made Mae feel even worse about waking her up. Bea was always a bad morning person, but when she was woken up much earlier than she needed to, it made her extra cranky.

“Sorry, Bea. I have to go into work at 5 to help open today,” Mae told her, flicking the lights on in the bedroom.

“Who the hell opens a taco place at 5 in the effing morning?” Bea hissed, sitting up in bed.

Mae was mostly in her panties and her t-shirt from last night, so the change into her work uniform went relatively quickly. “Taco Buck, I guess. Early taco enthusiasts probably come pouring in,” Mae replied.

“I highly doubt that.” Bea finally nestled back into bed, shutting her eyes again. “Well, have fun at work, Mae.” Mae leaned down to kiss Bea on the forehead, making her smile. “Make sure you turn off the light on your way out.”

Mae nodded, quickly hustling out the door.

“MAE, TURN OFF THE DAMN LIGHT.”

“Sorry!”

***

Mae felt like she was Bea as she stood at the register. Even though she had gotten up early for shifts before, she still wasn’t used to it, and still felt sluggish throughout the day. Along with that, business was painfully slow that day, so she was having trouble keeping herself occupied for a long period of time.

Her manager let her be more active and clean around the store—something she accepted rather eagerly. She cleaned at the glass, and then got to work sweeping and mopping around the store. She nearly slipped running back to the register once she heard the bell ring. She put on her usual smile before she saw who entered. Those guys she saw a couple days ago were here again, and Mae felt a small chill run up her spine.

“Hi, there,” the more gregarious one said, smiling at Mae.

“Hello…sir.” Mae narrowed her vision at him, making him look around awkwardly while he tried to keep his smile.

“Is uh…Is there something wrong?” he asked her, laughing a bit.

“…No. No, nothing’s wrong at all. Are you ready to order?”

“Sure am! I think we’ll just get the usual from last time.”

“…Shit, hold on, I forgot what that was.” Talking like this in front of the customers got a look of disapproval from her manager in the back, though she didn’t mind it for long, as she was too busy trying to remember their orders from last time.

The friendlier one refreshed her memory on their order, and she quickly rang it up. Right after getting their order out, she went on her lunch break. In contrast to the last time she saw them, she was the one scoping them down this time. She felt that something was off about them – people started disappearing once they rolled into town, after all. As they were heading out, Mae stopped them, standing up and partially blocking the way.

“Whoa, there. We in trouble or something?” the friendlier one asked her.

“Yeah! You are! I know you’re doing weird shit around here, and I won’t stand for it!” Mae declared, folding her arms. She could feel the confused glares from the other patrons at the restaurant and the disapproving look of her manager on her, but she didn’t really care right now; she knew there was something weird about them.

“Weird shit, huh? We’re just rolling into town for a bit. Nothing too weird about that, right?”

“I’m not a moron, you know; I know that one lady disappeared when you guys came here, and my friend Selmers, and other people too, probably!”

“Mae, come back here—now,” Mae’s manager snarled out.

“This isn’t over,” Mae said, narrowing her vision at the friendlier one.

“Whatever you say…Mae.” The friendlier one narrowed his vision back, a smug smile on his face and he and his friends left the restaurant.

Mae felt stunned when she heard him say her name. It made her feel tense, and she felt that way for the rest of her shift. She had to tell Bea about this.

***

Mae didn’t even change before she burst into the Ol’ Pickaxe, startling Bea in the process. “Jesus, Mae, what did I tell you about slamming into the effing door like that?” Bea furrowed her brows at Mae, taking a puff from her cigarette.

“Bea, those guys were back again.”

“What guys?”

“The weird guys! The ones that were looking at me weird!” Mae told her, getting up close to the counter and putting her hands on the glass.

“I told you, it’s because you—“

“No, it’s not the taco thing this time! I confronted them about it!”

“You…what?” Bea asked, blinking. “At your job? Did you get in trouble?”

“I got written up, yeah, but that’s not the worst thing!”

“Jesus, Mae, are you a freaking moron? Why are you starting shit at work?”

“Because I know those guys are up to something! They even knew my name! You can’t tell me that isn’t weird?”

Bea looked at Mae, dumbfounded, though Mae couldn’t figure out why—to her, this was the scariest thing. Bea let out a sigh, speaking in a tone of disbelief. “Mae, come on.”

“What?”

Bea pointed down at Mae’s name tag on her uniform, and it slowly dawned on Mae just how those guys knew her name. “…Oh. Still, though, Bea! I know they have something planned.”

“I’m not really sure about that, but…alright. Who knows, maybe we’ll find something when we go back to that town,” Bea said, shrugging.

Mae nodded, looking determined. If anything else, at least Bea was still going to take her back to that town. She was hoping to convince Bea about how messed up that town was, and she figured that the weird dungeon thing she found would be good proof.

“Anyways, do you need anything else, Mae—any weird, random shit for your ‘project’?”

“Oh, no, I don’t think so. That reminds me that I should work on it, though. I’ll do that in the meantime while you’re at work. Might do more research, too.”

“Wow. Look at you, being strangely responsible. For that last thing, at least.”

“Well, I had this weird dream – see, there were these musicians—” Mae paused her story when she heard the bell over the door ring, making her look over at the customer that entered.

“Hey, Mae, why don’t we continue this later when I’m off work?”

Mae voiced her agreement before heading out of the store, brushing past the customer. When she walked for a bit, she saw something on the board in the middle of town that shocked her and made her anxiety return. There were numerous missing person posters on the board. One of them was Selmers.

***

Both the incident in the quarry as well as at work made Mae more determined to get her project done. For the past couple hours since talking to Bea, Mae was using up the supplies she got from Bea, slicing up her hands in the process. Despite how surprisingly steady-paced and relaxed she was with it, barbed wire or razors still managed to slice up her fingers. After a good few hours of work, she decided that it was a good time to bandage her hands up and take some time to do some other errands she had.

The first one was going back to Bea’s to get her laptop back. Considering how often she visited, Bea had gotten her a key made, so that she could come over if she ever needed to—such as now. After getting her things and heading back to her house, she went up to her room to try and see if the Internet could be her saving grace for information on Owl Falls.

What she found on it was rather limited; most of what she got was just small news articles like what she found at the library. However, a few pieces of information got her attention: Owl Falls was well-known for having a tradition of musicians, and at some point, there was a great fire that burned a good portion of the town, though there wasn’t as much on the latter. On the former, however, she found the band she saw in her dreams—the Owl Falls Klezmer Band—as well as what was apparently a whole family of musicians made up of raccoon immigrants from Russia, both of whom were claimed to have special powers.

Mae scratched her chin thoughtfully on this. She figured that if she saw those musicians again, she could probably ask them about it. Her contemplating was interrupted by the loud pounding against the door. Mae pressed her face against her small window to see who was knocking, but couldn’t really see them too well. Mae headed down and answered the door, smiling once she saw that it was Bea.

“Hey, Beebee!”

“Hey, Mayday.” Bea squinted her eyes down at Mae’s bandaged up and shaking fingers, then quirked her brow. “What the hell happened to your hands?”

“Oh, you know.” Mae held up her fingers, wiggling them at Bea. “Project.”

“Right. Project,” Bea said. “We ready to go?”

“Oh! One sec.” Mae closed the door in Bea’s face before rushing back upstairs. She grabbed her aluminum bat as well as her riot baton and a flashlight, then returned downstairs and opened the door, smiling at Bea. “Okay, now I’m ready.” She handed the baton off to Bea, then gave a twirl to her bat before resting it on her shoulder, then stepped outside. “Wait! Shit, I almost forgot.”

“What?”

“I had something else I needed to get before this. Do you mind coming along, Bea?”

“I guess not. Where are we going?”

“I have to get something at my work, then we’re going to the abandoned Food Donkey.”

“Why, exactly?” Bea asked, giving Mae a suspicious look.

“It’s just something I gotta do – something I’ve been doing to take over for Gregg sometimes.”

“Uh…Alright, then.”

***

After a quick stop at Mae’s work, Mae headed over to the Food Donkey with Bea, heading inside. As soon as they headed inside, Bea covered her nostrils with her hands, while Mae wasn’t fazed by the smell inside the store. All the times she’d been here to make deals had gotten her used to the smell of glue inside the store.

“Eugh. Jesus, this place stinks, Mae. Does it really have to be this place?” Bea groaned, looking around. “It actually drowns out the smell of what you got in that bag.”

“It’s not that bad once you get used to it,” Mae said, shrugging.

“Who are we even waiting for?”

“Your mom,” a voice hissed from the entrance of the Food Donkey. Mae gave an unimpressed look at Steve Scriggins as he approached the two girls.

“Scriggins,” Mae said, nodding her head in acknowledgement to Scriggins.

“Mae, isn’t this that douche that Gregg did shit with? Why are you hanging around him?” Bea asked.

“Who are you, her girlfriend?” Scriggins said, giggling like it was the funniest thing ever.

“Yeah,” Bea said flatly.

“…Oh.”

“Let’s cut the shit, Steve. You got what I asked for?”

“Yeah, I got it, loser,” he said, folding his arms. “You got what I asked for? I’m not showing you until you give me what I want.”

“Fine.” Mae tossed the deliciously-smelling bag down at Scriggins feet. Scriggins walked towards it and opened it, smiling when he saw the contents.

“Ohhh yeah, that’s the good stuff, right there,” Scriggins said.

“So you just trade food with him for…random shit?” Bea asked Mae, quirking an eyebrow.

“No, not just random shit – shit that I need, Bea.”

Scriggins pulled a burrito out of the bag, wasting no time in chewing off big chunks of it—taking part of his cigarette in the process.

“Alright, Scriggins, I held up my end of the bargain—now hold up yours.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your panties in a twist,” he said with his mouth full. He dug around in his jacket pocket before pulling out a lock pick set. He tossed it over to Mae who caught it and stuffed it in her own pocket.

“Considering where we’re going, I thought the lock pick would come in handy.”

“Ah. Well, this is disgusting. We’re leaving now. Hopefully this will never happen again,” Bea said, heading for the door.

“Pleasure doing business with you, ladies,” Scriggins laughed, mouth still full of food.

“I hope you choke on literally every molecule of that burrito, Steve.”

***

Mae squeezed the grip of her baseball bat over and over all throughout the drive back to Owl Falls. She was trying to prep herself for all possible scenarios—most of them, however, involved her having to bash somebody’s head in with a bat. She was hoping that Bea would be ready for that kind of responsibility, too. Mae looked at Bea and saw that she was much more placid about this whole ordeal than Mae was. That seemed like typical Bea to her. She was almost envious of it, considering how antsy she was feeling about this whole thing. Thinking about what she saw in her dreams, as well as those new people in town, made her anxious, and for a bit she was caught up in those feelings. It took Bea placing a hand on her shoulder to break her out of her little daze.

“Hey, you alright, Mayday?” Bea asked, looking over at her for a moment. Despite her expression being close to her usual stoicism, Mae could see a bit of concern in her face.

Mae let out a small sigh, looking down at her thighs and the bat resting on them. “I guess. Kinda. Not really. I’m worried about what we’ll find in there. And…I guess what we won’t find in there.”

“What do you mean?”

“I forgot to tell you earlier today, but I found a missing person’s flyer for a bunch of people, but especially Selmers. You ever just…Been worried about both ways turning out bad?”

“A bunch of times, yeah. Comes with anxiety, I guess.”

“Right. Well, I’m worried that we won’t find Selmers down there, and that something much, much worse happened to her; but I’m also worried that we will find her and everybody else, and it’ll just mean there’s more weird cult shit going on. That or like, she’s dead.”

“I don’t think she’ll be dead, Mae.”

“Can you say that 100% she’s alive?”

“I can’t really say anything, but I doubt she’s dead. Selmers just…I dunno. She seems like she can handle herself a bit.”

“Yeah…Maybe.”

“Look, just…Whatever happens, know I’m here with you during it all—always.” Bea rubbed Mae’s leg comfortingly, even giving her a small smile.

Mae placed her hand on Bea’s, gently rubbing it with her finger. She sat there quietly for a few seconds, just taking in everything Bea told her. “That’s kinda gay, Bea.”

“Oh, shut up, dork,” Bea said, chuckling and slugging Mae in the arm. Mae giggled from it too, and it helped to calm her down a bit, especially seeing Bea smile like that.

Eventually, they reached their destination—same spot they parked at last time. Bea was the one to hold the flashlight this time, since Mae would probably need both hands to use her baseball bat. Guided by Bea’s flashlight, Mae followed behind her as they made their way through the grassier area and into the town. Mae looked at the same spot the musicians sat in her dreams, mostly pondering about what could have happened to them in this town. Mae lead Bea over to the quarry office, stopping near the drop Mae fell down last time.

“Careful going down here, Bea. I slipped down here last time, and it’s a bit of a drop. Just ask my elbows,” Mae said, rubbing her elbow.

“Right.” Bea eased her way down carefully. Mae was much cruder in going down, but she still tried her best to be careful. “You said it’s through here?” Bea asked, shining her light on the hole.

“Yeah, that one.”

Bea nodded, and headed in first. Mae primed her bat as they moved in, looking around a bit cautiously, trying to stay vigilant. “Bea, hold on,” Mae said, guiding her into the room she was in last time. She pointed at the chains and blood stains on the wall. Mae could see the unease rise up in Bea’s face as she shined her light all along it.

“Okay, that…that is kind of freaky. What the hell.” Mae could Bea grasp the baton tighter. She could tell Bea was taking the situation more seriously, now. She almost looked like she was in prime ass-beating mode. “Let’s keep going, Mae.”

Mae nodded, following behind Bea down the road. For the most part, the path was pretty simple – just going straight ahead, with much fewer rooms on either side. Eventually, though, they could both see a light further in, and—against better judgement—they followed it in. When they entered the room where the light was, they saw it wasn’t a room at all: it was a bunch of them.

The whole underground area had been hollowed out, with multiple levels going further down, and multiple paths carved out. Lanterns hung around near the entrance ways, and surprisingly, some of them were color coded. Both girls were in awe at how massive this place was, and how deep down it went. It was so far down, that neither girl could see the bottom. Splattered on some of the walls were the same symbols Mae and Bea saw in the town, painted all over most of the buildings. Some of them were used to mark certain areas in the catacombs, and Mae figured they were used as guides.

“Holy shit…” Bea said in a low breath, the cigarette dropping out of her mouth. “Where the hell would we even start with this place?”

Mae looked to the right as she heard the clank of a wooden door closing, and she soon ushered Bea down the opposite direction. “Some place not here—I heard somebody!”

“Wh—Mae! We don’t even know where we’re going!”

“Doesn’t matter; don’t wanna die; let’s go down here.” Mae pushed her through the nearest hallway. Bea huffed at Mae pushing her, but didn’t make too much of a fuss about it.

“More of these rooms,” Bea said, shining her light through doors as they walked down the hall. One particular room made Bea’s eyes shoot open wide. “Shit, Mae, c’mere,” Bea insisted, waving for Mae to come over.

“Look inside,” Bea said, pointing in. Mae gave her a look, as the hole in the door was too high for her. Bea sighed before picking Mae up to look through.

Mae let out a gasp, speaking in a hushed tone. “It’s Selmers!”

Selmers was chained to a wall, slumped down on her knees. Her head hung low, looking like she was exhausted and probably drained. It wouldn’t surprise Mae, considering what she must have been through. Mae wiggled out of Bea’s grip, and shook the handle to try and get it open. It was locked, so Mae resorted to her recently acquired lock pick set. “Cover me, Bea.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

After a bit of working on the lock, the lock clicked, and Mae pushed open the door, quickly rushing to Selmers. She got down, cupping her cheeks and raising her head. “Hey, Selmers. Selmers, wake up, c’mon!”

Selmers groaned, squinting her eyes before slowly opening. Up close like this, Selmers looked even more exhausted, and had bags under her eyes. She must have been crying quite a bit. “Mmn…Mae?” she said, squinting her eyes.

“Yeah, it’s me, Selmers.”

Selmers blinked rapidly as she woke up fully. “Mae…Oh my god, Mae, I never thought I’d see you here.” A quick wave of panic washed over Selmer’s face, and she wormed around, trying to get out. “Oh God, Mae, we have to get out of here. Weird shit is going on here—I heard weird growling and screaming, and the floor shook right after it,and—“

“Selmers, calm down. We’ll get you out of here, just…give me a second. I’ll get the locks off.”

Selmers looked extremely anxious as Mae rose back up, working on Selmers’ chains. The sound of footsteps echoed down the hall, and Bea nudged Mae’s shoulder, telling her to hurry. Mae eventually got Selmers’ chains unlocked, and just in time, as somebody else entered the room.

It was the wolf—the one that was a part of that group back in Possum Springs. “Better put her back if you know what’s—” He was interrupted by Bea striking him on the arm with the baton. He stumbled back, letting out a yelp and cradling his arm. Mae was quick to respond, too, and grabbed her aluminum bat. She cracked him on the side of the head, sending him spinning to the ground, unconscious.

“I effing _knew_ it was you guys!” Mae blurted out at the unconscious wolf, pointing her bat at him.

“Mae, come on, we should get out of here—now!” Bea said.

“Shit, yeah, okay, okay, okay.” She hustled back out the door, Selmers following behind her—stopping to give the wolf a good kick in contempt, despite him being out cold.

All three girls rushed out of the hall and back down the one they came from, making it out of the caverns and back outside. They scrambled up the path back up, and rushed for the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, just as a future note for you guys: I know I just came out of being slow with this chapter, but I maybe slow again since school starts up soon. I'll try to be more frequent with updates, regardless.  
> For future stuff, I also might be writing a space/sci-fi Night in the Woods story in the future, too - mostly revolving around a space adventurer Mae coming back to her home planet to visit friends.  
> So, stay tuned for that in the future!


	5. Weregild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae and Bea escape with Selmers and try to work out a plan on what to do next.  
> Anyways, name of this chapter is from "Weregild" by Grimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this took almost two months to get out. I've been busy with school work and trying to find a new job that I felt like I didn't have much time for anything else. Hope you guys don't mind the wait.

Mae huffed rapidly as she ran through the ghost town with Bea and Selmers. She was thankful that her sprint from this town last time helped build up her stamina for this one, especially since this danger felt closer than the last time she was here. Mae was only thankful that Selmers and Bea were able to keep pace with her, as she didn’t want to look back and see cultists that could be trailing them.

When they neared the car, Bea unlocked it with her remote, and none of the girls wasted time getting into the car. When they were all accounted for, Bea started up the car and sped off the dirt road, heading back towards Possum Springs.

Everybody took this time to catch their breath—especially Selmers, who had been reduced to wheezing. Selmers soon sat back, rubbing at her eyes and sighing with relief. Mae frowned when Selmers choked on the sobs that soon followed. She couldn’t even imagine what Selmers had gone through, but she was thankful that they were able to get her out in time. Selmers seemed thankful for it, too, as she wrapped Mae in a hug, repeating thank you over and over. Mae returned the hug, shutting her eyes for a moment as she let Selmers cry it out.

When her eyes slowly opened, though, she didn’t see Selmers. She saw circles and squares. Not a person, just a big lump of shapes. Mae’s eyes widened, and she recoiled back, noticing that the rest of her environment was changing, too – the car shifted into a hollow cube, and the trees outside were just lines with triangles. It was soon followed by a throbbing migraine, causing Mae to groan in pain and clutch her head. In between the spaces, too, she saw something – something that seemed familiar, but alien. It only made her more uneasy.

She panicked. She didn’t want to go through this again; she had just gotten a hold of this. Her breathing became hitched and rapid, and she felt herself get dizzy. She could barely hear the dull voice in her head; it sounded like she was underwater. She tried to hide from it all by squeezing her eyes shut, trying to ride it all out.

A short while later, though, she felt herself being shook, and heard the voice up much closer. She opened her eyes. All she saw was blue shapes, but…They started to look familiar – more defined. The shapes soon braced her in a hug. Her first instinct would be to panic, but…this felt familiar. Mae found her hands moving up to return the hug, and more solid features came out from the shapes. It was Bea. Behind her, too, with a worried expression on her face was Selmers. Her eyes were a bit baggy from crying. Mae felt like she didn’t make things any better for Selmers’ own panic.

“…Bea? Selmers?”

“I’m here, Mayday. It’s OK,” Bea cooed to her, gently rocking her back and forth. Mae squeezed Bea tighter.

“What…was that? Does that happen a lot?” Selmers asked, sniffling.

“Yeah…I mean, no. I mean…kinda, I guess. It hasn’t happened in a while.” Mae looked up at Selmers, pursing her lips a bit and feeling bad for the possible panic she put in Selmers because of that. “Sorry for like, freaking out out of nowhere like that.”

“It gave me a bit of a startle, but…I think I’m OK. Well, relatively OK, I guess,” Selmers said, chuckling a bit sheepishly.

“We should get back on the road for now,” Bea said, after holding Mae in a hug for a bit longer.

\---

Mae, Bea, and Selmers all sat quietly at their table in Taco Buck. Mae and Bea hadn’t really touched their food, but Selmers was eating through hers rather quickly. Mae figured she must have been starving, and she pushed her own food towards Selmers.

Eventually, Bea broke the silence. “What happened, Selmers? Do you know anything about what all of that was?”

Selmers finished chewing, and drank down a few big gulps of her water. She licked her lips before she finally spoke again. “I was out on a walk a couple days ago. These guys—really creepy guys dressed in red robes—grab me and knock me out. When I woke up, I was in that weird dungeon place with some other girl.”

Selmers paused to take another bite of her taco and another swig of her water. “She went first. All I heard was screaming after that.” Selmers frowned thinking about this and seemed like she was trying to hold back tears. “I just…I don’t know why they kept me alive for so long. I heard some of them talking about something, though – something that lived deep inside the quarry.”

Mae and Bea both gave each other a worried look. This was just like the incident with the mine all over again. It’s probably another black goat doing the same thing as the black goat in Possum Springs. Mae couldn’t figure out what this one would want, though. That whole town was deserted outside of the people living inside the quarry. It was even more frustrating to her, because she didn’t know who she could ask about this sort of thing.

“You don’t think it’s like in the mines…do you, Bea?” Mae asked her.

“Down in the mines? What do you mean?” Selmers asked, looking between them both with furrowed eyebrows.

“Right, well…You know that big explosion in the mines like a year ago?”

“Yeah, the one that made the whole mine collapse? Why?”

“That was kind of us…We blew it up with dynamite.”

“…Where the hell did you guys get dynamite!?”

“Germ,” Bea said flatly.

“Ah.” Selmers started on Mae’s tacos after that. “Still, what does that have to do with anything? And why did you seal up the mine with dynamite?”

“Well…see…There was a cult here – a cult of dads, and they were throwing people into the mine to feed this weird, eldritch goat monster thing to keep the town from dying,” Mae explained.

Selmers gave a confused look to Bea.

“She’s telling the truth. Why do you think there were so many missing people here?”

“Wait, so a bunch of old dudes were just throwing them to a monster in the mines?”

“Yep.”

“What…the hell?” Selmers said. She seemed surprised, but not too surprised. Probably on account of the fact that she was almost sacrificed by a cult herself.

“Yeah. It’s pretty effed up.”

“They got Casey,” Mae said, frowning. That one was probably the worst memory for her.

“Casey Hartley? I thought he skipped town.”

“Nope.”

Selmers looked like she needed a moment to process this as she sat back in her chair. It still felt weird to Mae to share this sort of thing with other people besides her, Bea, Gregg, and Angus. It was just a sort of secret between all of them until now. Mae wasn’t sure what this would mean for later.

“I just…holy shit, this is a lot to take in.”

“Imagine how we felt the first we were there,” Bea commented, finally eating some of her own food.

“Well…What now?” Selmers asked.

Mae and Bea both gave each other an unsure look.

\---

Both girls later decided that it would probably be a good idea for Selmers to spend the night someplace else besides her own home, just in case the cult came back for her. Bea offered for Selmers to stay at her place for the time being, until a plan could be worked out.

Bea also had told the police about what happened, though they didn’t say much besides “We’ll look into it.”

Meanwhile, Mae had spent time sitting up in her room, keeping one of her bats close to her. An occasional glance went out the window, watching out for any possible cult members that might have followed her here. She could at least rest easy knowing that if they were in this part of the neighborhood, they wouldn’t be getting Selmers again.

Mae at some point in the night had gotten an idea on what could be done for this sort of thing. It was good, too, since it required talking to a lot of people, and Mae couldn’t sleep. First things first, though: she needed to check in with Bea about Selmers.

**M: Hey Bea**

**M: How’s Selmers doing?**

**B: Better.**

**B: She just needs to get a bit of rest right now**

**B: That shit must have been traumatizing.**

**M: Yeah.**

**M: Kinda sucks this town seems to draw shit like this.**

**B: Yeah, it does**

**B: Can’t imagine what other weird shit goes on nearby**

**M: Id rather not think about it, honestly**

**B: Me neither.**

**M: Anyways**

**M: You think you’re gonna go into work tomorrow?**

**B: Well, yeah, probably**

**B: Were you not going to?**

**M: I mean**

**M: Maybe???**

**M: I dunno.**

**M: I think I got some kind of plan, though**

**B: Oh?**

**M: Yeah, I’m gonna get some people together for it**

**B: Oh no**

**B: You want to go back into there, don’t you?**

**M: I mean**

**M: I really don’t want to, but like**

**M: I feel like there’s people that are still trapped there**

**M: And it feels like the police are gonna be useless for this kinda thing**

**B: …**

**B: I guess**

**B: Still like**

**B: It seems kind of dangerous to just go into a quarry with probably a shit ton of cultists and some weird eldritch monster**

**M: Well, we got in there last time with no problems, right?**

**B: We had to hit a dude over the head with a baseball bat**

**M: Problem solving!**

**B: Heh.**

**B: Still though, were gonna need a shit ton of people if we’re gonna do something like that, Mayday**

**M: I know!**

**M: I got a few people I could ask for this sort of thing**

**M: Plus we got Germ with his dynamite to finish things off**

**B: True**

**B: He still does have a lot of dynamite**

**M: Exactly!**

**B: Alright, well**

**B: I’m heading to bed, Mayday**

**B: Stay safe, okay?**

**M: I will, Beebee.**

**B: I love you**

**M: Love you too**

Mae let out a long sigh as she slumped down on her bed.  This whole thing was pretty scary. She didn’t exactly have a solid plan for all of this outside of “Send a bunch of people into the mines and probably die trying to rescue some people.” Still, she wouldn’t give up on this. She got Gregg on the chat.

**M: Gregg, you on?**

**G: Hey dude!**

**G: You were kinda gone for a couple days**

**G: Everything alrite?**

**M: To be honest?**

**M: Not at all**

**G: Oh, shit**

**G: What’s going down?**

**M: Gregg…**

**M: It’s happening again**

**G: What do you mean?**

**M: Cult stuff**

**G: …Shit**

**M: Yeah**

**M: They took Selmers, and they almost sacrificed her before Bea and I got her out**

**G: How did they even get out of the mines???**

**G: We blew it up with dynamite!**

**M: Oh it’s a different cult**

**M: It’s in that town I was telling you about, Owl Falls**

**G: Shit, so that place really is no good**

**M: Yeah, which is part of why I needed to talk to you Gregg**

**M: Sorry if this is a bit much, but**

**M: Do you think you could come down and help with this?**

**M: There’s people still in there, and we need to get rid of that cult before they keep doing this shit**

**G: …**

**G: …Alright**

**G: Yeah**

**G: Angus and I will come over in like 2 days when were both free**

**G: I got a new, non-shitty crossbow too**

**M: Thank you Gregg**

**G: No problem duders**

**G: Cant let this shit go on, right?**

**M: Yeah, we can’t**

**M: I got a few other people I need to message, so I’ll talk to you later, Gregg**

**G: See ya, dude**

That was her immediate friends taken care of. Now…Mae had to talk to somebody she hadn’t talked to in a while. She figured that she would be able to help out with this whole thing, though.

**M: Hey**

**M: I forgot if you’re asleep or not, but**

**M: Something really, really bad is happening here**

**M: And I think I’ll need your help for it**

**M: I feel bad that like, this is the first thing I message you about in like**

**M: Ever??**

**M: But it’s something really dire**

**M: Like, need you as soon as possible dire**

**M: It’s related to the cult stuff I told you about a long time ago**

**M: But…kinda different**

**M: It’s happening in someplace else**

**M: If you actually can come in two days, please like**

**M: Bring a weapon**

**M: Just something you can like**

**M: Put some major hurt on somebody with**

**M: Message me when you can, please.**

Mae was about to curl up in bed to sleep, but she paused when she heard the messenger sound from her laptop. She scooted close to it again and was…a bit surprised at how quickly the one on the other end messaged back.

**BB: Alright.**

**BB: Next two days, you said?**

**BB: I can do that.**

**BB: See you then.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was so short; I'm trying to get back in the feel of writing this fanfic again. I'll try to make the next chapter longer.


	6. Song for a Pump Organ.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae and Bea visit a few old faces before their big day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this took way longer to get out than I wanted to. I wanted to get this out for Halloween, but, well, Halloween happened, and I wound up staying up until 5:30 writing this and most of today editing it. I put a lot of effort into this one, so I hope you guys enjoy it!
> 
> The title of this chapter is based off of "Song for a Pump Organ" by Pepper Rabbit.

Mae stared into the familiar entrance of the quarry. Both times she was here, she went in deeper and deeper, but now she had a specific goal in mind: Get in as deep as she could, and find more of what the cultists were doing here.

The dim lights passed by her as she walked through, like street lights on a dark night, illuminating a familiar road. It took her back to the same open area she ventured to with Bea. Instead of going left and down the same hall like last time, however, she went right – where the path didn’t wind back around to the other side of the room. Something beckoned her to go right—something nagging at the back of her mind as a faint whisper.

The lights grew dimmer and dimmer as she walked, leading her into pitch black, guided only by the sound of her feet on gravel. The sound of loose rocks changed to the creak of wooden planks.

The lights slowly returned, though not in the typical orange and yellow they were before. These lights were the dark purple of her older dreams, and the sickly green of her last dream. They switched like traffic lights and wound downwards like a spiral. Mae saw more paths like that across from her, twisting down into the blackness below. She went down, ignoring how disorienting the lights were. The further down she went, the louder the murmurs got, tickling right at her ears.

No light escaped the inky blackness of the pit, as she stood staring down at it from the platform she stood on. She felt this before back in Possum Springs. The Black Goat that sang to her. Whatever was in this hole showed more timidity, choosing whisper over song.

Yet, even with its hushed tone, it caused Mae headaches. Though she couldn’t understand it completely, she somehow knew it was talking about something inside of her. Its whisper became louder in her ears, enough to hurt her ears, too.

She felt more than the pit’s whispering, though. Something bubbled up inside of her. She covered her mouth as she burped it up: a sticky, blue substance, with the consistency of slime. It kept coming up and out of her and pushed through her fingers. She arched over, retching as she felt something slithering up her throat. A long tendril pushed its way out of her mouth. She gagged around it, looking down in confusion and going down to her knees. Blisters formed along her arms; they opened up to serpentine eyes or popped open like eggs, hosting small tentacles inside. These changes struck confusion in her—more so than it did panic. The Black Goat didn’t do things like this to her, so why was whatever was in the pit doing it? What was it trying to tell her? Why did it turn her into some eldritch weirdo?

\---

Mae’s eyelids opened in small slants before she squeezed the sleep out of her eyes. She sat up slowly and rubbed at her eye, the other one drifting down to her pillow. She furrowed her brows in confusion as she noticed a blue stain on her pillow case. Was it vomit? Did she drink something weird last night? There was only one way for her to be certain. She dipped her finger in it and put it to her finger and—yep, it was vomit.

She sputtered in disgust and stuck her tongue out before retching. She was just thankful she didn’t drown in it last night or turn over the wrong way and choke on it as it came up. She would take care of washing it later; for now, she wanted to check her messages before she headed out for the day. The first one was from Bea.

**B: Hey, Mae**

**B: Hope you slept OK last night.**

**B: Selmers slept pretty OK over here.**

**B: I actually know somebody else we could bring for this whole thing**

**B: I messaged her earlier and told her I’d keep her updated.**

**B: Come visit me today, too, before you go to work.**

**B: I wanted to talk about something else**

**B: Love you**

Mae let out a small sigh. She knew that Bea was talking about Jackie. Mae knew Jackie hated her even more for dating Bea, and even now, Jackie only really tolerated Mae. She didn’t dwell on it long, though, and decided to check up on some of her other messages. The next one was from Bombshell.

**BB: Hey, Brrowski.**

**BB: Just checking in with you again, and I got some other news.**

**BB: I figured you needed as many people as you could, so I’m bringing Anna along, too.**

**BB: We’re just gonna come over there after Anna gets off work—like around 5 PM or so.**

**BB: See you then, tough stuff.**

Mae completely forgot about asking Anna to come down. Anna became Mae’s other friend when Bombshell and she had their little thing. The first time she met Anna was when Mae watched her eat a lightbulb at one of Bombshell’s parties. From that point forward, Mae never questioned Anna’s capabilities.

Gregg hadn’t gotten back to her, but she would get back to him later. She got her work clothes together and grabbed her dirty pillow case before heading downstairs.

After tossing her pillow case into the laundry bin, she was greeted by her mother’s usual, chipper tune. “Sweetie, come say hi before you head off to work!”

A nice talk with her mom could probably ease her nerves about things. She wouldn’t talk about everything since she didn’t want to worry her, but just a short talk would make her feel better. She walked into the kitchen and perched on the counter.

“Hey, mom.”

“Hi, hon. You heading off to work?”

“Not right away. I got a few things to do around town first, I think. I don’t start for like, another hour.”

“Oh? Waking up a little early, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Had a weird dream. Won’t go into much details outside of it culminated into me vomiting. Speaking of, I puked on my pillow case, too. Literally living the dream in this case.”

“Oh, dear,” her mother said, setting down her book and giving Mae a concerned look. “You’re not getting sick again, are you?”

“Nah, I just think it was like, a spur of the moment thing? Or like, how you kinda act out stuff in your dreams? You know, like when I used to pee in my dreams, and I wound up wetting the bed?”

“Ah. One of those. Yes, I guess that makes sense. Though…vomiting seems like quite a bit, don’t you think?”

“Eh. It’s not like I’m hurting or anything. I’ll live, I think.”

“Well, I’ll be praying you do. Don’t want you to die from dream puking.”

“Haha, yeah, that’d be kind of a weird way to go, I guess,” Mae said, smiling. She soon hopped off the counter. “I hope you don’t mind me cutting this a little bit short, mom. Bea wanted to talk to me about something. I was also kind of…thinking about having her over? For like, dinner or something later?”

“We can do that, sweetheart. Beatrice is always welcome in our home. Though…tacos may not be the best thing to have for dinner with her.”

“I knew I was right about that!” Mae said, trying not to giggle.

“Don’t tell her I said that.”

“Mom-daughter secret,” Mae said. “Anyways, I’m off for now, mom.”

“Okay, sweetie. Have a nice day at work!”

\---

The Ol’ Pickaxe was Mae’s top priority before work. Not only was she curious about what Bea wanted to discuss, but she also wanted to make sure that Selmers was OK. Mae leaned on the counter and looked up at Bea, soon asking her if Selmers was doing alright at her place.

“Actually, I dropped her off at Germ’s place; figured she’d be much safer in some isolated place a bit outside of town. I think she’s doing a bit better though, now that she’s had a place to rest besides some dingy cell underground,” Bea explained to her, mirroring her girlfriend in resting her arms on the counter.

“Yeah, I’d be pretty glad for that too, honestly. Also, I talked with Bombshell; she said both she and Anna are coming down to help out with this whole thing.”

“Anna…” Bea said, squinting her eyes as she tried to place who that was.

“The one that ate the cactus.”

“Ah. Her.” Bea took a small drag of her cigarette and puffed the smoke to the side.

“Yeah. She told me she felt spikes as it went out.”

“Didn’t need to know that. Is she good for this kinda stuff?”

“Yeah, she takes…some vague martial arts she never really explained, so I believe in her. Is Jackie good for fighting?”

“Oh, you figured out who it was?” Bea asked, sitting up slightly.

Mae snorted at this. “It was kinda obvious, to be honest. No offense, Bea, but you like, don’t have a lot of other female friends.”

“Shut up, I do too,” Bea huffed, giving Mae a bit of a look.

“Name one—besides Selmers.”

“…”

“…”

“…Yeah, Jackie’s good for this kinda stuff. If nothing else, she’s good at punching shit.”

“Nice. Could always use more punching.”

“Mhm. Also got Germ on board since, y’know, dynamite.”

“Hell yeah,” Mae said, smiling. “Was that like uh…all you wanted to talk about? I mean, not that I mind seeing you—it’s one of my favorite parts of the day—but I just wanna like, be sure before I eff off for work.”

“Aww.” Bea smiled at Mae’s comment—even blushing as she rested her chin on her palm. It made Mae smile, too. “To answer your question, though, no, that wasn’t all I wanted to talk about. Before we do…well, what we’re gonna do, I kinda wanted to come with me to visit somebody.”

“Who?”

Bea didn’t answer. She took a drag of her cigarette, and her gaze went down to her ash tray, soon topped off by the taps on Bea’s cigarette. Mae waited for a response, but it came to her shortly after. “…Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, totally. I think like, we needed to do that much, much sooner. We haven’t like, visited her since that one time. Do you mind if I ask for something in return, too?”

“Shoot, Mayday.”

“I want you to visit somebody with me, too—and also to spend the night at my place tonight.”

“So visiting three people, then. Yeah, I can do that. Might as well, since we’re going to go off into eldritch hell again soon.”

“Thanks, Beebee,” Mae said, placing a hand on Bea’s. “You also freed up some of my schedule by talking with Germ, so thanks for that too.”

“Heh. Don’t mention it. You got like, 45 minutes; what’re you gonna do?”

“I dunno. Hang out here, maybe?”

“Sure. Just behave yourself.”

\---

Despite everything that happened in the past couple of days, Mae felt rather calm at work. She got Selmers out of that place, and had a (minor) plan in place to stop the cult. On top of that, she would be burying another eldritch monster under rubble—though with Germ’s help, of course. She wondered to herself if this would become a thing.

Her placidity faded into a bubbling anxiety as those same guests—no, those cultists, Mae now knew—walked through the front door. Though…they were short one member – the wolf that caught Bea and Mae down in the quarry.

Mae felt a tinge of pride; she thought about how she must have messed him up bad enough to warrant him not being here—though she also thought he was a wimp for going down from just a baseball bat swing. She took one and was perfectly fine. Maybe she just had a thick skull. Regardless, Mae didn’t want to let this go, and added a bit of smugness to her tone.

“Oh, hello, again! You gonna get the usual—minus one? Where’s your friend anyways? He sick or something?” she asked, coy smile on her face. Ignoring the situation, too, she rang up their orders.

Their little leader made an amused him, smiling as he narrowed his vision at Mae. “Yeah…he needed to lie down. Thought we’d bring our friend here in his place, since you offer us such great service,” he told her, paying shortly after.

“What the hell do you guys even want?” Mae asked them, furrowing her brows as her smugness drifted away. “You just showed up and started taking people to your creepy underground dungeon thing.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, our town is a little…dead. We’re trying to bring it back through sacrifice,” he answered, leaning closer with his hands on the counter.

“So why haven’t you sacrificed me yet? You’ve been stalking me at work, why not just toss me in your shitty hole in the ground?” she asked. She was thankful that it was so empty today so that she could practically yell like she was.

“Oh, we would have, but, well…you’re tainted meat. We have other plans for you, don’t you worry.”

Mae processed this, eyes darting around in thought. What the hell did “tainted meat” mean? Was it something to do with her dream last night? What are they planning to do with her? The cult leader seemed to revel in her sudden anxiety, as his smile just grew wider. She just wanted to leap over the counter and rush back home. She thanked whatever God there was that her shift ended with their order, and she pushed it up to them before she clocked out.

“Okay, have a nice day, goodbye,” she spat out, rushing to clock out and head out the door. She got a head start from them sitting down with their order, and the front door didn’t even close before she was half-way down the street.

She clutched Ass Grinder—her bat with nails in it which, she realized, could have had a better name—tightly. She glanced out the window occasionally, keeping an eye out for any cultists but also Bea. In fact, she was watching more for Bea now more than anything. Her parents still weren’t home yet—and, thankfully, wouldn’t be for a while—and Mae didn’t want to be alone with the cultists roaming around.

After an hour passed—an agonizing and terrifying hour—Bea showed up, and Mae sighed in relief. She hopped off her bed and rushed down the stairs and outside. She didn’t even give Bea a chance to get out of the car before she was sitting next to her in the passenger seat.

“Bea, let’s go.”

“Wh—Mae, but I just got—“

“Bea, please, we just gotta go now; I think those cultists are gonna try and get me.”

Bea gave a concerned look but didn’t ask any questions. She got the car going and headed down the road.

\---

Mae felt an odd sense of serenity in the graveyard. It was quiet here, and the ground was nice and cool beneath her. She felt like she could just sleep here. Was this what being Goth was?

Speaking of Goth, Bea just being next to her, hand locked with hers and enjoying the silence, mollified Mae over the cultists pursuing her. Mae knew that sitting here, alone with their thoughts, wasn’t the only reason they were here. Mae just needed a bit of time to think up what she would say. She also needed the courage from Bea to talk in the first place. This was actually the first time Mae had visited Bea’s mom with her, and she didn’t want to mess it up for Bea. She was tired of just not saying anything, though, and she soon spoke up.

“Hi, Mrs. Santello. It’s been a while since I talked last. Like, a long, long while ago…Longer than I’d wish actually…” Mae scratched the back of her head, feeling her anxiety return. She looked to Bea for reassurance that she wasn’t crossing any lines. Bea squeezed her hand, and Mae took the hint that she was doing OK.

She took in a short breath before she continued on. “…I wasn’t there for Bea, either, and I’m like, the biggest jerk in the universe for it—maybe even the multiverse!” Mae said, throwing her hands—and Bea’s hand—up in the air. Bea let out a small chuckle at this. “Anyways…I’m making it up to her now. I love her more than anything—even myself. Like, wow, I’m still a major eff up with like everything, but…I hope I’m doing a good job of taking care of Bea for you.” Mae looked back at Mrs. Santello’s tombstone, giving it an awkward pat. She wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do, but it seemed appropriate to her.

“You are, Mae. Don’t worry. My mom definitely thinks so, too.” Bea smiled and looked back at the tombstone as well, placing her hand on it. “It’s been a while since all three of us were together, mom. Kinda wish it didn’t have to be this way, but…y’know. I just hope things are going well up there for you. I’ve been doing a lot better with Mae, obviously, too.” Bea rubbed Mae’s hand with her thumb at this, making her flush. “I dunno if you like, watch me or whatever, but…I’m sure you know what’s coming soon. I hope it’s not worrying you too much. I promise I’ll be careful. I love you. Say hi to dad for me.”

Bea took a bit to stare at her mother’s tombstone. Mae wasn’t sure what to do at that moment, so she did the same. She wondered if Bea’s mom was watching over her too. Mae got up with Bea and held onto her hand as they walked back to the car. “That went well, I think,” Mae commented, gently swinging Bea’s arm.

Bea nodded in response, letting go of Mae’s hand to get into the car. Mae took in a deep breath, preparing herself mentally to visit Casey.

\---

Considering the lack of, well, a body, the burial that Gregg and Mae had before Gregg and Angus left was a bit unorthodox, but Mae still felt like it had meaning. They buried Casey’s old backpack, putting his skateboard and his drum sticks in it. Mae was pretty sure that was how Egyptians buried people since they wanted to be buried with their stuff. Mae only hoped that Casey got those things in heaven.

They buried his things up on the hill she, Casey, and Gregg always hung out on—where they planned crimes, and talked about band practice, and just acted like a bunch of trashy kids. The memories stung, now, for Mae, since they always came back to hearing those words in the mine – about how the cultists said he wasn’t going to amount to anything, and how much anger and hurt she felt hearing them. Even looking at his makeshift tombstone—just a slab of cement with “CASEY HARTLEY RIP” and his away message etched on it nearly made her tear up. She didn’t want this negativity to control her every time she saw or thought of him, though; she wanted to be over it and just think about him in good memories, but they were tainted by the Black Goat and its cult. She wondered if it was a mistake to come up here, and contemplated just going back to the car now and leaving.

Her line of thought broke when she felt Bea grab her hand. She wasn’t sure if Bea had weird empathy magic or something, but to Mae it felt like she knew something was wrong. It gave her strength to stay on this hill, too.

“You gonna be OK to say something to him?” Bea asked. “It’s really effing hard the first time to say something, trust me. You don’t need to make it perfect. Just say what’s on your mind.”

Mae turned back to Casey’s grave. It would probably help, she thought, if she got her thoughts out—even the negative stuff. “Hey, Casey,” Mae said after a short pause. “Things have been…hectic recently, and I feel kind of bad for not visiting you in a while. It’s just…”

Mae turned to look at Bea, who made a “go on” gesture with her other hand. Mae sighed again and looked back down at Casey. “It’s just…I haven’t been strong enough, I don’t think. I know you’re probably laughing about that and calling me something goofy or boasting about being stronger or something,” Mae continued on, a small smile on her face, “But…it’s just been hard trying to accept what happened to you. I still think about it constantly, and I just get frustrated about it!” Mae’s grip on Bea’s hand tightened, almost trembling, now. “It’s not fair that it happened to you, or any of those people they tossed in the mine!”

Mae gritted her teeth and wasn’t able to keep her tears from streaming down. She broke into choked sobs and found speaking again difficult. Bea moved on past hand-holding and went straight to hugging Mae for comfort, her head resting on top of Mae’s. Mae’s arms held onto Bea’s arm, squeezing it against her tightly. She needed physical contact like this more than ever. It’s what helped her get through this, and what eased her tears into small sniffles.

Mae wiped at her eyes, taking a hard swallow to go at speaking again. “Casey…if there’s anything I could say it’s just…I’m going to make sure nothing like what happened to you happens to anybody else ever again—even it takes blowing up a mine or killing an eldritch god or whatever. Even if I don’t, I want to try, at least. I feel like that would help you rest a bit easier. I’m pretty sure you were Christian, so I hope it makes your life in heaven that much better, too…I think I cried out the rest of what I wanted to say.”

“It was still pretty good even with the crying,” Bea told her, soon pulling out of the hug. “Guess it’s my turn to say something.”

Mae noticed that Bea was…surprisingly looking a bit awkward. It wasn’t really something Mae saw often with Bea. Bea gave her reassurance, though, so Mae needed to do the same. She squeezed Bea’s hand, looking up at her. “Just like what you said with me. Just like, say whatever.”

“That wasn’t my exact words, but…you’re right.” Bea looked back down to Casey, extinguishing the cigarette she had in her mouth under her boot heel. “We didn’t really know each other a whole lot, Casey, but like, I know you were friends with Mae and Gregg and everything, so I know you were pretty special. I’m also probably doing a really shitty job as a replacement on drums—“

“’Drums.’”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bea said, gently elbowing Mae. “Anyways. Just I guess, thanks for being friends with Mae. You were probably a really good dude, and I hope you’re taking things easy.” Bea did the same awkward gesture Mae did for her mom and gave Casey’s tombstone a pat.

“That was good, Bea. I’m sure he appreciates what you said.”

“I’m sure he appreciated you crying for him.”

“Oh no, he’s probably laughing at me for it as we speak,” Mae said, a weak smile returning to her face.

Bea let out a small “heh” before she pulled another cigarette out, lighting it with one hand. “We ready to head back now, then?”

“Yeah, I just need a sec, Bea.”

“Sure. I’ll be down in the car when you’re ready.”

Mae watched Bea head down before turning back to Casey with pursed lips.

“…Save some space for us just in case, Casey.”

\---

Calm returned as Mae and Bea had dinner with Mae’s parents. It was spaghetti night, Mae’s favorite night besides taco night.

Dinner was done in relative silence, but eventually her mom got tired of it and decided to strike up a conversation. “So, do you two got plans for the weekend tomorrow?” she asked.

Mae and Bea both paused their eating to look at each other, trying to think of something to say. Mae was God awful at lying, so it was a lot of pleading with Bea via facial cues. Bea’s eyes rolled over to Mae’s mother, who was waiting expectantly for an answer from either of them.

“We’re going out tomorrow night,” she said. Mae nodded in agreement but also praise for such a simple but good answer. It wasn’t really a lie, either.

“Oh, how nice! Is it a date?” she asked.

“You two haven’t had a proper date in quite some time,” Mr. Borowski added.

“Kinda. It’s more of a friend outing; Gregg and Angus are coming over too and we’re going out of town.”

“Ohh, how exciting! Sounds like you’ll have a busy weekend.”

“Yeah, it’ll be a blast,” Mae said, smiling at her own pun. She looked to Bea to see if she got it. Bea just rolled her eyes.

“Well, you all stay safe, alright? Buddy system,” Candy said.

“Is it even a buddy system if it’s more than one person? Maybe it can be like an army system or something,” Mae suggested.

“Maybe so. It sure does sound more intimidating, doesn’t it?” Stan said, taking a bite of spaghetti.

“Yes, and that’s what I’m gonna call it for the whole night,” Mae said.

“Well, just remember my number one hangover cure, kitten,” Mr. Borowski told her.

“Yes, I know – no drinking in the first place,” Mae said, groaning.

“Considering how you are, that’s probably the best cure,” Bea mused.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Mae sighed.

There was a chuckle from Mae’s dad and Bea, and the dinner continued in relative silence after that.

\---

Mae lied curled up with Bea, both of them staring up at the ceiling. She had a lot of thoughts running through her head, and felt like this time with Bea was a good time to let them out, starting with the immediate things.

“Do you think it was OK for us to lie to my parents like that?” she asked.

Bea shrugged. “I doubt they’d believe ‘Hey, we’re going to some ghost town to bury a cult under rubble’.”

“That’s true, I guess.” Mae hummed a bit, snuggling up closer to Bea. “Sorry I was kinda awkward in front of your mom.”

“If it helps any, I was kind of awkward in front of Casey. Again, though, I really don’t think they mind. They probably enjoy hearing what’s on our minds. It’s just cathartic for everybody.”

“Cathartic is such a weird word.”

“I know.”

Mae’s mind drifted into more grim thoughts, and she nibbled on her lips in debate over whether she should share them or not. Bea, again, seemed to pick up on it—to Mae’s amazement.

“What’s up?”

“Do you ever just…feel like we’re cursed or something, Bea? Like we’re just going to constantly have bad shit thrown our way like this?”

“Life’s always gonna throw bad shit. The fact that nobody seems to care kinda adds to that too.”

“I know that stuff, but like…The stuff with the cult, and the Black Goat, and Owl Springs and everything. Do you think there’s some weird god or something I guess that’s just…perpetually making shit go weird on us?”

“Can’t really say, to be honest. Why?”

“You remember those dreams I had with the Deep Hollow Hollerers? And how they’re like, ghosts for this town or whatever? I started having dreams for Owl Falls, and…I think I saw what was in there. I started changing too, and puking up stuff. I just…felt like that thing was trying to talk to me, and I just…I dunno. I guess I’m just worried about what’s going to happen down there when we go.”

Mae was soothed by Bea petting her and running her fingers through Mae’s hair.

“Yeah. I get that. I’ve been thinking about it, too, and I get kind of scared about it. I just try to think about how we survived that shit in the mine, and how we worked together to get out. It helps when I think about this new cult. We survived some pretty effed up stuff, and we will again”

“…Maybe you’re right. I’ll try to think about that.”

“Think about how you freaking climbed up a mine shaft, too.”

“That was pretty cool.”

“It was.”

“…Do you think I’m dumb, Bea?”

“Oh yeah. You’re a big dummy,” Bea teased. “Is this about something in particular?”

“I just…I feel stupid that I’m not over what happened to Casey. I just…I feel like I shouldn’t still be crying over stuff like this.”

“It can take a while to get over those kinds of things, Mae. I still cried for a couple years after my mom passed. Hell, sometimes I still cry over it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Plus, by the sound of it, you hadn’t really thought about it for a while. That shit can be painful coming back.”

“I guess so, yeah. You always know the right words to say, Bea.”

“It’s what I’m here for.”

Mae thought over what Bea said, but her anxiety over what was coming soon still pushed through. She felt like she had to get something out before tomorrow. “I’m really grateful for you, Bea. Like, even when I acted like dumb garbage you were still friends with me, and now we’re dating and you’ve just…You’ve been really good to me, Bea.”

“Yeah. To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting us to be friends again when you came back—or at least not for a while—but…I dunno, I guess I realized how much I missed being close with you. You really helped me feel like my life wasn’t just some endless loop I had to suffer through. I mean, things aren’t great, but they’re better than they were. I just appreciate you, Mayday.”

Mae squeezed Bea tighter in their hug, slowly shutting her eyes as she let Bea’s words sink in. She was really home enough.

“We should really sleep,” Bea said eventually, looking down at Mae. “Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Per usual, let me know what you guys think, and if there's anything that needs to be edited!


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